Rose with Thorns
by Pizzadone
Summary: Had he lost, or rather had he won? Meta Knight could never be sure. He had gained his freedom, at the price of Dreamland. Now he and Kirby have no purpose, wandering the myriad of planets in search of one. There has always been evil. Now the knight and his young companion simply have to face it. Sequel to Cascade of Nightmares, but can stand alone. T for language and violence. AU
1. The First Horror

**Oh goody! A Sequel!** My first! Sequels are usually pretty cheap gags for cash in my opinion, but here they are free to view, so here it is!

The same characters are carried over from the original work, as well as a few new additions. Yes, I had to pull a couple of OCs out of nowhere, but it just had to happen.

**The original Kirby idea**, the anime characters **and a good dose of game characters** that make an appearance **are all copyrighted by Nintendo** and 4kids. Or they were at one point, until 4kids disbanded, and now I don't have any idea who owns them other than Nintendo.

All that aside,** I created Cascade in the original story and Lia for this story arc.** Both characters are mine,** do what you like with them**, but just don't claim them as your own. That is cheap and insulting, is it really that hard to come up with OC's?

Thanks to **Metabatman** for the beta reading he is currently helping with. Metabatman really helped get this off the ground.** If you want to beta read, PM me or leave a review. I'm accepting anyone**, really, so if you can't wait until I post then just tell me and I will email it to you.

_**Something you want to see happen in the sequel? Ask and ye shall (likely) receive!**_

**Bolded words are** bolded because they are** the Tl;DR of this introduction.**

Without further ado:

Rose With Thorns

* * *

Ship's log: Day XX

"Kirby is learning to speak now. But only in his dreams does he actually speak. I have seen it twice now, once when we camped out on the desert planet, Neo Star, and the other time on our new ship, the S.S. Babel.

In his rare dreams, Kirby tells stories. Stories of heroes and rouges, death and discrimination, things far away and impossible to know, all the many injustices of the world. I like to hear the tales, but not from innocent little Kirby's voice. And not while I am trying to sleep.

Sleep is a terrifying concept, now. Each night, I toss and turn, unable to find solace, except when I open my eyes to the surrounding, omnipresent darkness. I cannot remain calm, I cannot become enraged. I seem to exist in a frustrating limbo.

We only owned the clothes on our backs before we found the ship. It was well kept in years prior, but now it is riddled with barnacles and rust. It had a proud hull, one that glistened when it was hit just right by the sun, and one that had endured many collisions. Now it is a wistful block of steel, unpolished and weakened by time. Thankfully it can be not only seaworthy but also space worthy, once the gears and control systems are fixed up. It had been abandoned at the docks in one of the fishing ports that we had seen as we roamed Pop Star, the home planet of Dreamland.

The Popopo islands had housed the S. S. Babel, to be precise. The archipelago had once been a bountiful land, filled with exotic creatures and simple yet lush terrain. Its original inhabitants have been extinguished by some unseen force. All of Dreamland has been as well, and now the destruction spreads wherever we go. Plants wilt, fires burn, wicked brawls break out amongst the few survivors. Nighttime follows our every step.

We ride around, traveling space, waiting for things to happen. The destruction follows as a dog follows scent. Pop Star has become a distant memory to Kirby, I believe. I try to find desolated places for us to stop, so as not to disturb populated ones. Regrettably, this leaves us with few supplies to work with.

The ship is decent inside. There is a kitchen, some simple bunks, the weaponry, the control room, a few empty rooms, loads of storage and a deck outside for landing smaller craft or for recreation when the ship is at sea. One of the empty rooms has a high ceiling, and perched up at the top; Kirby and I can look out a glass dome and see the outside world. Of course, it isn't fragile, as it has to withstand many impacts. Metal scaffolding is visible on the outside, with the stars behind serving as a striking backdrop.

-Meta Knight."

* * *

He had tried to coach Kirby to speak English in his waking hours, rather than his sleeping ones, but Kirby was very flighty and all he wanted to do was to play. Meta Knight found no recreation or happiness, only blasted silence; and that could only be lifted by the child's laughter or his unsuccessful lessons. Astronomical life was a routine that didn't suit either of the two. Both were restless, or in Meta Knight's case, caught up in internal turmoil.

Meta Knight would think of his prison experience, whenever he had silence or when he went to sleep. The darkness was comforting to him, but the empty feel of his bare wrists gave him great panic if he thought about them too much. If he stretched his arms up, they would scream in protest before calming and then suddenly tingling, settling into the position they had learned to relish during incarceration.

The prison had robbed him of all of the feelings that Dreamland had inspired. Such feelings were once a perfect distraction from his past, now they are only dull reminders of pain and suffering. He missed Kawasaki's foul food, the castle's beautiful courtyard, Sword and Blade's ever-protective yet naïve personalities. He missed his candy jar, tucked away behind the cabinet in his quarters, the bustling Waddle Dees. Even the Halberd's empty docks had once filled him with pride, for he had built a truly war-worthy vessel with his own hands. He remembered all of these things sparingly, little snatches that would come to him and prick at his memory like a rose's thorn. The prison had robbed him of much, but his memories were not destroyed. They were simply locked in the deepest recesses of his mind, like the dark matter within him.

Oh yes, he had dark matter within him. Loads of it, now that he had been exposed to its cold touch of its home realm. If the three or four demons that inhabited him from before, the one that had forced him to kill the Waddle Dee and the one that stole his victory from the circus duel with Yamikage were bad, then the dose within him was certainly hellacious blasphemy. There were too many to count, swarming him like rabid mongrels around prey.

Meta Knight ignored them when they tried to force their opinions, and he pushed them one by one into the veritable Pandora's Box at the back of his heart. The part that was blackened from sin.

And locked in that blackened box were his hopes of redemption. No longer did a king, two smart cabinet minister's children, and an entire village of Cappies respect his authority. Now the only one who sought him out was Kirby, the tiny child that didn't understand the knight or his intentions. But, of course, neither did the knight.

His eyes were blacked out as well. They could no longer see color clearly, which left Meta Knight with several problems. The first was that he had trouble distinguishing items on the control panel of the Babel. The second was that he couldn't distinguish between day and night, as he couldn't discriminate most tints or shades because of his protective mask, leaving him quite literally in the dark about the world around him. And the third was that Kirby was scared of him, because all of his friends were gone, and Meta Knight's eyes no longer glowed like a beacon of hope, but instead matched the encroaching danger of life as they knew it.

Meta Knight figured out what he could from muffled breaths or air currents, cries of "Poyo", but his vision dysfunction was something that left the war veteran in insuperable shambles. His silent slumber was his only chance at peace, and even then, the darkness of night scared him.

It wasn't that he hated the darkness anymore. He had once shied away from everything to do with it. Now his body longed to crawl into inky murkiness, to embed itself into the blackest recesses of the world. Darkness looked like a soft cushion, and Meta Knight feared that its temptation would someday become too great. He thought of how he would leave Kirby abandoned, with tear-filled and confused eyes, if he ever fell prey to the attraction of the dusk. The darkness had become a security because he had learned to delight in it while he was locked in the prison. And someday he would simply curl into a ball and splay out his arms, reminiscent of his incarceration, until dark forces overcame him. It helped him cope, and at nights, it was the only way to get himself to fall asleep.

They were just settling down to another one of these dark, silent nights when their first horror came upon them.

It looked like an ephemeral comet on the ship's radar. It was a bulky vessel in reality.

Meta Knight caught on when the insignificant "comet" swerved unnaturally towards them. He looked out the window of the cockpit and tried to pinpoint the other vessel but couldn't locate it until it drew nearer. It was cone shaped and bore a cloaking device, so it didn't completely reveal itself until it was about to collide.

It was the ship of Princess Rona, or rather her false persona, Commander Vee. Once before the ship had landed in Dreamland and a feast had been thrown. The Princess was quite fond of Kirby and his friends, and would want to know how they were doing back home.

But they were all dead now. Tiff, Tuff, Dedede, and the Ebrum parents, hell, even Meta Knight felt like he had died back there.

He'd either have to tell the truth, or placate Rona with lies. But really, his consciousness didn't care. If she wanted to believe what she wanted to believe, that was her problem. He was good at fabricating interesting and realistic tales. And that was if she sent any message to him.

Meta Knight suddenly received a notification across the wireless link to open a channel of communication. He begrudgingly accepted, prepared to weave a tale of tragedy and woe that was as far from the truth as possible. The ship's screen buzzed static, and an image appeared.

It was not a Princess or a Commander that appeared onscreen- but some sort of putrid apparition. It had to be.

It was a clay figure, matching the appearance of Tiff. Her body was intact but her mouth was twisted into some sort of lurid squiggle. Her trademark ponytail was ruffled and confused, not knowing whether to lay flat or shoot upwards. The trademark orange clasps at the back kept it down, but the ends came up as though charged with static electricity. Her eyes were hollow, almost like black beads, and her mouth revealed several pointy canine teeth. They were blackened at the edges but brighter in the center.

"Why did you take me away from my family?" She said, her mangled mouth moving with the consistency of molasses. "Why did you destroy Dreamland?"

The knight had no words and not a clue what was going on. He feared that he was imagining things, and that the real Princess Rona was actually talking to him. His vision was not exactly his most reliable sense right now. He tried to clear his head, and see beyond the strange vision, but his eyes were not playing tricks. Kirby entered the room as the stunned knight stared intently.

Slamming noises came from the speaker. It was the sound of drums, but also the sound of flesh slamming flesh. People fighting. The camera angle swiveled and then went every direction while still focusing on Tiff. She coughed but her face didn't move.

"What will you do with Kirby? Will you show him the prison? I've seen it. It's a nice place. Not a care in the world until your body starts to decaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy." Her body began to melt as she spoke until her last word stretched off too.

Meta Knight held back the urge to dry vomit as the bloody skeleton of clay-Tiff spoke.

"CaN yOu CoMe PlAy WiTh Us?"

Kirby turned at the odd sound of the voice. He didn't understand what Tiff was saying because it was so garbled.

Tuff appeared. The two punched each other without warning for a few seconds until Tuff's skin melted off too. His body was not made of bone or clay though, each joint and segment was made of soldered metal. Where his face was, one could see an engine with a single spark emanating inside a glass orb.

"We ArE lOnElY. gIvE uS kIrBy."

"yEs. GiVe Us KiRbY."

Then more people came, one by one, the Cappies that Meta Knight had killed. He couldn't turn away from each horror that walked before him. None had bodies of clay or metal; one was made entirely from glass and filled with dark liquid, another made from patches of skin that had been sewn together with buttons for eyes. Their old, normal appearances melted into each abomination, with a custom remark or criticism and each finished with the same parting message:

"GiVe Us KiRbY!"

The backdrop behind flashed red and black quickly, in odd swirling patterns, and once or twice a face was visible beneath them. The Knight had long stopped listening, focusing on keeping Kirby out of the area, but the voices penetrated his eardrums wherever he went and nothing could dispel them. Eventually he dragged himself back to the monitor in a feeble attempt to shut the damn thing off.

The screen went to static as the death parade ended. Text appeared in black letters, standing out in sharp relief with the ever-changing static.

"I will be expecting you to return my child to me soon."

The transmission ended and the ship vanished.


	2. A Second's Pause

"POYO? POY!" Kirby yelled across the table. Meta Knight finally looked up from his small dinner plate to scold the child, making these the first words from the elder since the odd transmission, when the little one spoke up in rapid Poyoan.

"Poy... Po poyo poy po poyo yo po poy!"

Meta Knight needed a minute to translate, but he sat bolt upright and launched himself at the control panel the instant he understood. It was the only part of the ship's interior that wasn't the slightest bit rusty, as it was made of a stainless alloy. The dirtied glass shield panel looked out to the stars. It was difficult to look through, but a large, star-free blob was coming into view, fast. Meta Knight began flicking switches until the cause of Kirby's message came into view on the camera. He zoomed in.

They were set on a crash course into an asteroid populated by a Kabu. But not just one Kabu, six of them. Six petrified totems lay in a circle on the planet's ground. Kirby had been paying attention to the radar more than he had; as he was still haunted by the disgusting death parade.

"Kirby, grab hold of something! Don't let go of it no matter what!"

Kirby looked around in a frenzied rage, hoping to find something stable to latch onto. In the end, he settled for Meta Knight's foot, which he clung to for dear life as the knight began working.

He noticed Kirby and almost gave a jump but decided that it wasn't worth it. The young Poyoan was warm against his shin and it gave him a sense of belonging and relaxation. The knight set aside his woes and immediately began turning the ship a sharp right. They met some turbulence and the ship rocked dangerously in the updraft.

"POYO!" Kirby cried out, his little nubby arms slipping slightly. Meta Knight pulled his foot closer and he set his left hand onto the Poyoan, leaving the two locked in a strange embrace. Kirby stopped slipping but the knight only had one hand with which to operate the controls.

Several buttons and dials were jammed quickly but without error. The knight's aim for each was true and swift enough that the ship began initiating common landing procedures. It was too risky to try and turn the ship completely; better to land carefully and rest a while, avoiding any kind of crash, then ascend back into the sky when they were ready. And since there were six Kabus on this planet, it couldn't be overly hostile towards star warriors or visiting ships, and there was a guarantee of having a breathable atmosphere.

The ship landed, albeit a little roughly, and Kirby would have fallen aside, with a concussion or worse, had the knight's hand not been there to steady him.

The two casually settled themselves and prepared to disembark, but the communication channel suddenly opened. Meta Knight feared for another strange visitation. Kirby was shuffled aside to recover his balance as the knight focused on the screen.

Rather than a ghostly apparition or death parade, the sight that met Meta Knight's eyes was a simple traveler. He wore a gilded cape, trimmed with gold, bore two straight horns that were covered in the cloth, and bright, amber eyes. The rest of his body cut off below and there were no visible arms.

Were his eyes playing tricks…? The eyes looked amber and the gold was clear in Meta Knight's vision. He could clearly see the color, the bright, glorious color, and the contrast of it with the surrounding grayness did not hurt him. Meta Knight was open mouthed, but of course the strange person could not see his facial expression, as his mouth was covered in his mask. The oblivious, _gold_ person began speaking.

"Excuse me for barging in on you, sir, but I have a dire request and this is the only place I could think to come for help. Are you, by some marvelous chance, a star warrior? Sworn defender of the weak?"

Meta Knight did not process any of this information, but Kirby did. He leapt up, tried to push Meta Knight to the side and he proudly faced the camera.

"Poyo!" he pointed to himself with gusto. "Po poy yo poy poyo yo poy po yo!"

The strange visitor paled in confusion and worry.

"…Do either of you speak English?"

Meta Knight turned away, his hand resting on his mask. If he were to tear it off, perhaps all the colors could come back, not just the gold before him. He could see the glory of Kirby's pinkness, the rusty brown of the ship, his own indigo skin, his sacred sword, the light, the visitor… Everything in its natural, sharp consistency. He could determine any threats that the visitor concealed.

But if he wasn't strong enough… If he couldn't handle the pressure of all of the colors… He would force both Kirby and this visitor to watch a writhing performance. He would roll about, reduced to the state of a wailing child, no better than he had been when he was bound to that table by Nightmare. He wanted to see the color, but couldn't stand the pain of it. It was different from all other kinds of pain. It induced a wave of somber nausea, an odd desire to strike and screech and rage like the colors did. The blackness his mask brought and the comforts it held would be dashed away, if he was not prepared to step into the sharp contrast.

Better to do that kind of thing when he was in a controlled environment. For now, he'd just observe the visitor, even if it meant he wasn't able to distinguish everything it held beneath its golden robes.

"Yes, I do speak English," the knight said, gently placing Kirby on the ground. "I am sorry for my delay."

"Not at all, sir! Not at all! Are you travelling with your son?"

Meta Knight froze again. Kirby was most certainly not his son, and the more he got attached to the baby, the more he would think about seeing his glorious color, and he would emotionally be torn apart if it was ever time for the boy to voyage on his own out into the final frontier. He treated Kirby like a guest or a foolish student; there was much less attachment that way.

"He is not my son. I would prefer if you kept any further remarks about our relation to yourself."

The speaker paused with another frown of worried confusion.

"My apologies… But I will have to deny that request just a moment longer. Are either of you two star warriors?"

Meta Knight had no grievances about answering this question, but he would keep their demon beast heritage a secret. "Yes, me and the young one both," he said in his mellifluous, deep-yet-fiery voice.

"PRAISE THE STARS!" shouted the visitor. "I've been waiting a long time for someone of your caliber to arrive here! I have a fairly complex problem to work out and it is going to take a large amount of explanation. Can you exit your ship so that we may speak properly?"

He gave a second's pause. "Do you bear weapons or wish harm upon us?"

Apprehensive silence followed. "No! Why should I? You two are my saviors!"

His manner seemed genuine and Meta Knight visibly relaxed. But on the inside, he prepared himself to slash with Galaxia whenever it became necessary. He wasn't fooled for a minute, something was wrong with this man. He was able to see his color, and that meant he was different from everything else in the universe.

"We will exit our craft shortly. I expect you to be waiting, alone, and without a single weapon on your person," Meta Knight demanded after an exceptionally long pause.

"Alright. Thank you," said the visitor, with a curt bow. The transmission was cut.

Meta Knight picked up Kirby's nubby hand and guided him to the ship's dock.

"Now Kirby," he said, "We are meeting someone new. I do not know if it is an enemy or a friend, so I want you to stay behind me and do only as you are told. Alright?"

"Poy."

Meta Knight let go of Kirby and turned the hatch lock. A platform lowered as Meta Knight kept rotating the wheel. It gave off a few squeals of strident disapproval but eventually it stopped grinding. When the hatch was completely open, the knight let go and began to descend.

The outside world was much hotter and brighter than the ship. He squinted, even behind the thick shades of his mask, and Kirby did the same until he adjusted to the light. The ground was covered in red sand, which billowed out with the wind in a slow sandstorm. Clay was visible under the coarse grains and the land masses wove together in a sea of calming coalescence. Meta Knight suddenly felt like he was at home, no matter how deserted and terrible this wasteland actually was. It was the same color of the walls in Castle Dedede.

Wait… his eyes! They could see the red! It was so clear! The sky was gray, as were Kirby and the ship, but he could see the striking red of the sand and clay.

He suddenly wanted to frolic about, skipping and twirling in the grainy wind, perhaps waving his cape and dancing a merry jig. But such an idea was absurd, making the knight smile. When his eyes still had the capacity for colors, they would have turned rosy pink.

He set foot on the ground, which gave a little under his feet. The clay was rather damp and completely flexible, but not the least bit adhesive. He could spend hours here with Kirby, sculpting castles from the clay and fun drawings in the sand. But there was the visitor to be dealt with. He ignored the glee that pulsed through him at this color, and instead focused on the wrecked metal mass some 20 yards away.

And there was also the gold caped figure to be dealt with… _floating _his way.

He had seen some floating creatures before, but never one like this. Hands down, it was a demon beast, and it had already tricked the knight into coming straight into its clutches. It seemed too smooth and, dare he say, cartoony to be a natural creature. He pondered how to approach the situation before rapidly evolving a plan. A well-timed sword beam could destroy the character from afar.

The plan was destroyed instantly when Kirby rushed forward to greet the visitor.

"Kirby! NO! COME HERE!"

Kirby turned, confused, just as the visitor was approaching. It waved with gloved hands that also floated from the body.

"KIRBY!" Meta Knight gave one last shout as he leapt over the little Poyoan, drawing Galaxia in a swift motion, and then pointing it straight at the visitor's chest.

Nobody moved. All of time ceased as the dumbstruck visitor gaped. His mouth was hidden by a scarf, but his luminous eyes were not hidden or reserved at all. They showed their owner's fear quite plainly. Meta Knight held his breath. How could he deliver the final thrust to the creature, when he could see its yellow eyes so clearly? The first color he had seen in 4000 years, extinguished? It was criminal to say the least. Against his better judgment, Meta Knight gave the visitor a chance.

"You have ten seconds to explain why you can float, or this is going straight through your demonic body and _out the other side_."

"WHOA! WHOA!" shouted the visitor. Nobody moved, and Meta Knight's knuckles were white under the gloves from gripping so hard. He did not loosen his fist. "Ok, so I'm a wizard! But I don't want to fight! I swear! Please don't hurt me! I'm a good guy, honest!"

Meta Knight watched his eyes, his hands, everything about him all at once and nowhere specific. He bored into its very soul. The effect on the poor wizard was terrifying, as the knight had no visible eyes because his mask was shading them. He looked like some kind of mindless terminator.

The sword pulled back. The action surprised everyone, Meta Knight most of all. Why did he suddenly trust this creature? Did it have some kind of spell or scent that fooled his mind? He tried to pinpoint it, but couldn't. All he knew was that he wanted to trust the man because of his eyes and golden cape, and didn't at the same time because of his experiences with trusting strangers. He was still torn between whether the creature was a demon beast or not. Better to get straight to the point and skip the speculation with a few simple questions.

"Now then," began the knight in a slow, practiced tone, "why do you seek our assistance?"

"…I guess that does it for introductions… I need help repairing my ship; I crash landed."

Meta Knight turned around, sheathing his sword, taking Kirby by the hand.

"Hey! Where are you- ERK!" Meta Knight drew and thrust his sword again at the visitor, nearly making contact with its neck.

"I'm not going to play mechanic for you just because of my heritage."

"Hey, trust me, it's not because you sound Mexican. I swear." The visitor went paler, if that was even possible by this point.

Meta Knight gave a second's pause in misunderstanding.

"Poy…yo?" Kirby said, interrupting the apprehensive silence. They had never heard of a "Mexican" before. They could either be vicious enemies, like Doomers or Shotzos, or the statement could have been a compliment of some kind. Something specific to the wizard's planet. It probably wasn't worth it to ask, and there was no guarantee the knight could receive the real answer if it had been an insult.

The floating man put his head in his hands, causing the knight to raise his sword a fraction before realizing what the wizard was doing. The man was disappointed that Meta Knight and Kirby didn't understand him. "Let's start over," he began. "I'm Magolor, it's nice to meet you, star warriors of legend."

"Poyo!" Kirby leapt from Meta Knight's grip and went over to hug the sorcerer. Meta Knight tried to shoot his arm to block, but misjudged the distance. Magolor accepted the hug with a little dose of shock, but decided that it was pleasant and he hugged Kirby warmly in return.

"Hello, little fella. See, Mr. Sharp, Pointy Weapon? Your friend doesn't think I'm evil."

Deep in the recesses of the knight's brain, a little bit of jealousy snapped. Why should it not be he, Meta Knight, on the receiving end of Kirby's warmth? Oh wait, that's right, he murdered an entire village and its monarch, half of it of his own free-will.

He decided that he mistrusted the man within that half-second.

His hand went to Galaxia's hilt, but dropped quickly as Kirby dislodged himself from the hug. He picked up Kirby and gave a nod.

"It does not matter whether you are good or evil. I am not fixing your ship."

"Please, give me a chance. I'll make it worth your while."

Meta Knight almost left, but he was a utilitarian, and he knew his ship was short on supplies. He could just loot Magolor, but what kind of an example would that set for Kirby? He would stay long enough find out what the reward was. It couldn't hurt. But he'd need to lower Kirby so that the two could speak properly.

He set down the Poyoan and spoke sternly. "Do not move from this spot unless I say so, or… you are not getting dessert tonight."

The message came through and Kirby gasped and began to jabber in Poyoan. He was ignored as the major conversation continued.

"Worth my while, you say. What form of recompense do you possess?"

"Well… If you truly are Star Warriors, my words will be enough."

Meta Knight bent to retrieve Kirby.

"Not mere thank-yous, sir, oh no! I mean tales! Stories! I came here to discover the secrets of this planet and I may be the only person who can explain them to you! If you are still alive, you must have been born after the great star war. Aren't you curious about your heritage?"

"… No."

Meta Knight moved quickly this time. He didn't want to hear any more of Magolor's pathetic attempts to sway him, and this red planet just wasn't worth his time. He nearly flew off, carrying Kirby towards their craft.

"But this is about… the backbone of your race!" Magolor called from afar.

"My race… heh… heh…" Meta Knight couldn't contain himself. He burst into maniacal laughter, as a tiny maroon string of matter ebbed from one of his clenched knuckles, barely enough to fit inside the palm of his hand. The little string of matter went unnoticed by all, aside from Meta Knight. It flew into the back of his head, snaking around to his eyes, and finally wedging itself into the pores of his skin.

"MY RACE IS NOT THAT WHICH IT SEEMS! SILENCE, MAGOLOR!"

"Y-you-" Meta Knight turned at the noise, dashing instantly to the wizard and raising his blade. It swung with a callous tune, the spikes whipping the air into a miniature tempest, before the sword itself seemed to resist the motion. Galaxia gave a start, dashing ever-so-slightly aside, converting the dark matter's death blow into a harmless scrape. Magolor's scarf lost a few threads and a tiny drop of blood escaped his cheek, but that was all.

Meta Knight paused, for the sake of Kirby. He threw every fiber of his real being into fighting the influence that puppeteered him. The little warrior was looking on with fear. Magolor backed away, hand clutched at his scarf as though it were alive.

Galaxia bucked out of his grip, skidding to the ground with a clang. Magolor looked at it but was too frightened to grab it. Kirby had long been dropped to the ground, but he was just now regaining his balance. The knight vomited profusely, little droplets of black and red spewing out among them.

He stood on his feet, exhausted and worn down into a pulp. A collective breath was drawn. Magolor shunted himself back an inch, fearing that the worst was yet to come. Kirby set his little nubby arms into a determined façade; prepared to fight his mentor and restore him back to his senses. The only explanation his infantile mind could support was that the knight was infected with some kind of mind-controlling parasite, which was not far from the truth. But the real parasite was not made strictly for mind control; it was made for corruption, a force which could be fought if enough hope was present.

But the knight was too weak; almost nothing could heal his heavy heart. Kirby's innocence was all that kept him going, fighting, begging for a second chance. And it was that innocence which had drawn the knight to his knees, using every iota of energy to fight the tiny string of dark matter.

Dark matter is impossible to fight. The more there is, the stronger it becomes. And if there is enough to see, there is no hope of combating it. But if one knows how to convince the dark matter to leave you alone, find another victim, you can still escape. Not win, escape. And even then you might still be at risk.

Meta Knight was well aware of how to control dark matter. He had true skill in dark arts; that was what he was created for. His swordsmanship was only a mask, a mask of his own abilities as much as the mask on his face. And, as there was such a miniscule amount of matter to contend with, the knight's true self won out.

Meta Knight was himself again. He picked up the sword, gave a nod to Kirby and he turned around again to face the ship.

"Come."

Magolor had no words. His throat was dryer than the sandstorm surrounding them. But, in some super-human effort, he croaked out a final excuse.

"Please… help me… as an apology."

Meta Knight would have chucked, has his mouth not tasted like bile. Apologies were for the weak.

He suddenly had an epiphany. That was a statement from his old master. A statement supported by his actions and the dark matter controlling them. How could he do this? How could he be so cruel as to turn away an innocent victim of his own blade? He may be a demon beast, infested with more evil than anyone could count, but he was also a knight. If this title didn't give him some sense of honor, then surely his star warrior heritage would. He was not just a creature of the dark; he was a shining figure of the light. He would do well to remember it.

The knight faced the poor wizard for a few seconds more, before walking towards him tranquilly.

"Yes. I will help you. I cannot hope to explain to you what has just happened, but rest assured, those were not actions taken of my own volition. I lost control of myself for a moment and I sincerely hope to apologize."

"There's… something else. I… I came from Halcandra, land of the ancients. There's an acquaintance of mine, one of the most powerful fighters in existence. He looks kind of like you, actually. I can take you to him. Maybe he could fix whatever just possessed you."

A second's pause elapsed. "What are you talking about? I am sure if your friend is not the creature I am thinking of, he is not the most powerful fighter in existence."

"Ahh, but that is where you are wrong. My friend has the power to create monsters out of thin air."

Meta Knight lost all pretense of composure within that second, leaping up to grab Magolor by the scarf and lock eyes with him.

"WHO IS HE?!"

"CALM DOWN!" Magolor tried to squirm away, but Meta Knight wouldn't have it. Oblivious to Kirby's look of horror, Meta Knight slugged Magolor in the face, probably causing a nasty contusion to Magolor's left eye. Immediately, the color of it blanked out of existence. The wizard was dropped.

"Who is the one that can make demon beasts?" Meta Knight asked, trying desperately to calm himself. He wanted to know who else besides Nightmare could create demon beasts, and hopefully destroy them at all costs.

"So you know what they really are… the false gods…" Magolor slumped to the ground, rubbing his eye with a groan.

"Yes. I know what these 'false gods' can do with power. The power of shadows consumes them. Take me to this being so that I may destroy it, once and for all."

"Ahh… I'd love to, see, but he is in another dimension. My ship can take us across the fabric of space-time to get us there, but the Lor Starcutter is broken, and I can't fix it. I already told you that."

Meta Knight contemplated this. This creature was definitely a demon beast, Meta Knight was sure of it, and it wanted to take the star warriors to his superior to destroy it. Perhaps the wizard and the knight weren't so different from each other after all, they both wanted to destroy their governors. Meta Knight was to Nightmare, as Magolor was to his 'acquaintance.' Meta Knight distrusted the wizard so much though, and his inner sense of right and wrong was tingling with apprehension. It could just as easily be a trap, luring him to the other demon-maker so that they could be bound to its will rather than Nightmare's. And fixing an inter-dimensional ship just sounded like hell.

"Poyo! Poy! Yo YO YO POY YO!" Kirby finally ducked out from behind the knight to look at the poor, slouched wizard on the ground. He spoke in shock, then in anger at the knight who had so rudely disfigured the visitor.

Meta Knight looked to Kirby. He couldn't take on whatever threat the wizard was babbling about when he had to babysit Kirby constantly. And taking the little star warrior into a battle he wasn't prepared for could turn into something far less savory. He had two options; fix the ship and fight, disregarding his logical thought for the sake of progress against darkness, or he could just turn around now and live with his cowardly choice.

He may be a demon beast, but he was a demon beast with honor. He was a star warrior, despite how that part of his heritage had been recently soiled and ignored. If he wanted to start building a real life for himself and Kirby, he would have to learn how to function like a normal being, with a full emotional range and a profound sense of kindness. He also had he sword incident to make amends for. The most appropriate course of action was to give Magolor the benefit of the doubt, even against his mistrust of the sorceror.

"I will fix your ship, Magolor," he sighed. Meta Knight lowered his hand to Magolor's body. The wizard took it and righted himself.

"'Bout frickin' time," muttered the wizard under his breath.

"I have been terribly rude to you. Forgive me. I will fix the Lor Starcutter, but I will need a little assistance from you. In return, you will take me to the one who can create demon beasts. I hope my previously cruel countenance is not going to affect our dealings."

Magolor smiled a little behind his eyes. A flicker of gold shone through the injured one, until it was killed with a twitch of his nerves. "That's just swell, sir, that's just swell. And, what's your name, by the way?"

"Meta Knight will suffice. This is Kirby."

"Ok, Meta Knight, Kirby, let me officially welcome you to the planet of Six Kabus!"


	3. Golden Gears

Magolor wasted no time showing the knight what had happened to the ship. The wrecked metal mass that the knight had seen before was the twisted hull of the massive spacecraft. Various pieces and parts littered the ground, and a thick set of core reactors were splayed like corpses in the dust. They had no source of power, and they gave off no sign of ever producing so much as a spark. Metal cogs were everywhere, partially buried in the red mire of the planet. The six Kabus Meta Knight had seen before lay a good distance away, obscured by billowing sandy winds and haze.

"The main problem is that I have no power source for my ship. The energy spheres that I need for the core reactor are scattered around the planet and there's no hope of me locating them. I would get lost if I went out there all by my lonesome. Do you think you two can gather them while I extricate as much of the rubble around here from the ground as I can?"

"How long have you been marooned here? Should not that have been a priority when you first landed?"

"Ahh… a few weeks at least. I spent most of it healing up by the Kabus. I took a lot of damage entering the atmosphere like that. I only just got back to my wreck about three of four days ago. Nobody else has landed here since. I've been doing what I could, digging up some of the clay by the hull, making a small clay hut for protection from the wind at night, scavenging out any of my supplies that survived the impact. There's also a fountain by the Kabus, it's pretty cool looking. If you need drinking water, that's where to go."

"Poyo… poy…" Kirby frowned in sympathy at the tale. Meta Knight forced himself to do the same, under his mask. Even though nobody saw, he was working to start learning emotions from Kirby again, one step at a time. It was going to help him regain his sense of balance after his internment and torrent of destruction.

"Kirby and I shall go out looking for the spheres. What do these energy spheres look like, exactly, and are there any special instructions for how we should handle them?"

"Well, there're about 120 of those suckers, and they look like gold cogs. See the design on my stomach? It's like this. They have little globes around them, hence the name. They really aren't super dangerous or anything, just pick 'em up and bring 'em back here."

"Alright, we shall see what we can do. Come along, Kirby," Meta Knight intoned gently. Kirby leapt up in enthusiasm, and nuzzled into Meta Knight's cape, glad that he was no longer irate. He backed away in embarrassment before looking at Magolor, tugging his cape away from the child.

Only the wizard saw the faint splash of light behind the shaded mask, revealing two milky yet pink eyes for all of one second. The light faded too quickly though, as though the entire occurrence was an illusion. He doesn't mention it, just in case he imagined the phenomena.

"Good luck, you two!" He waved with a flourish as the knight walked west, the way they came.

* * *

Kirby is panting from exhaustion. He is holding up the end of Meta Knight's cape like a baby elephant does a mother's tail, for inside the cape's folds, the two have accumulated around 40 energy spheres. The spheres stand out in the ground, sticking partially out of the clay, because like Magolor's eyes and cape, their gold color is plainly visible to Meta Knight. Nothing else has changed for him color wise, Meta Knight has not taken off his mask yet and he still can only see gold and red.

A sandstorm had impeded their progress earlier that day, turning his vision into a sea of rosy red, plunging him into a baleful nostalgia-trip of the star war. His bloodlust then was very similar, his vision swam with red with each kill, and his body suffered from whiplash as he was tossed about by vicious foes until his barely closed scars sprung open to a cruel wind-blown combat field. The grains of dust made pinging noises off his mask, and Kirby had to nuzzle inside the cape to maintain any sort of visual capacity. Thankfully, the storm subsided after a while.

Kirby is also drying up from dehydration, and the knight doesn't like making the poor Poyoan work so hard when he feels fatigued. But, he tells himself that it is all part of their training, and when they get back to Magolor and the Starcutter, the two will go to the fountain that Magolor mentioned within the ring of Kabus. But why would there be a working fountain on this desolated planet? Meta Knight chalks it up to being the work of other Star Warriors before, the same ones who put the Kabus there.

The duo finally sees the wrecked metal mass again, a few yards ahead. The blinding sandstorm has taken its toll, the reactors are a little deeper entrenched in the ground than they were earlier in the day. The sun is stretching downward, and bit by bit, Meta Knight can see color in the sky, first pale yellow, then orange, and finally a fiery red that stabs his eyes like bramble thorns. The sunset is captivating. Meta Knight stops walking to admire the lustrous, dusky glow.

He twitches ever so slightly, producing clinking noises from the energy spheres and causing Kirby to upset the cape's contents.

Meta Knight turns to scold Kirby, but he sees that his hand is shaking. His mask and pauldrons clang off of each other and Kirby's rotund form is vibrating at the same rate. Meta Knight recognizes the symptoms immediately; the two are enduring another seizure.

Meta Knight swears under his breath, trying to pick up the energy spheres but failing as his hands refuse to cooperate with his wishes. He tries not to alarm the child but Kirby is already panicking, making harsh noises and quick movements. This is the first seizure he notices. The one at Kabu valley not so long ago took place when he was sliced in half, thankfully saving his life, but he was in no state to realize what was going on. The other ones have happened at night, while Kirby was sleeping, but strangely Meta Knight was been awake both times.

The elder warrior falls on his side, unbalanced, and Kirby suddenly cries out in alarm as he too trips over himself. The two stay that way for a few seconds before they are able to stand; the tremor's effects over.

The spheres are gathered without a word. Kirby almost says something, but the mysterious and frightening image of Meta Knight discourages it. When the cape is brimming with golden cogs, the two walk out to the shipwreck again.

Meta Knight suddenly has a panicked thought. He left his ship lying there, completely free for the taking. Its door and dock are open and down, so that literally anything could walk in, start up the control panel, and set a course for wherever. Magolor probably sent them on this wild goose-chase just so he could steal the working vessel! Meta Knight suddenly increases his pace, dragging Kirby along right behind. Fortunately, the cape doesn't tip, as the little warrior is now prepared for sudden velocity alterations, and Kirby quickly changes his pace to keep up with the knight. Meta Knight doesn't run full force, for Kirby's sake, but he cannot restrain his anger at his imprudence. He lets loose a primal roar that reaches poor Magolor and terrifies him out of his wits.

* * *

"That noise… can't be those two nicely gullible 'star warriors'… can it?"

Magolor nearly faints when he sees the enraged knight and nervous child charging towards their ship. Could they have encountered some sort of monster on their search for spheres? They were probably running for shelter, he reasoned, and he better follow them if he wanted to survive.

He floats off, dropping several springs in the process, as quickly as his body allows him. He takes a few twisting dives in midair, to speed up his progress. It doesn't take long before he catches up with the knight, so that he is floating alongside the man and his odd little pink boy.

"Meta Knight! What's… huff… wrong?" Magolor yells with an intake of breath. The knight skids to a halt, and Magolor flies ahead a short distance before stopping and backtracking. Kirby trips and drops the cape, spilling the spheres everywhere. Meta Knight takes a breath of relief, if Magolor is here; the ship is too. Unless something else that populated the planet was investigating it.

"My ship… I was worried that something had happened to it. You are not planning to borrow any parts from it, are you?"

"Oh… you know, now that you say that, I probably will end up having to if I can't find everything. But I never thought of that before. You left it locked up and everything, right?"

"No. I had anticipated returning to the ship fairly quickly. If you will excuse me-" Meta Knight ran around Magolor to cover the last 50 yards to his ship, full speed. Without Kirby and the energy spheres dragging him down, he covered the distance much faster. He vaulted up the ship's dock and tore the place apart, hunting down every corridor for any trace of life. He smelled, saw and heard nothing other than his own ragged breath and the rusty, musty corners of the vacant supply closets. Nothing had touched the ship, thank the stars.

Meta Knight exits the control room, but questions what to do about the dock. He can't leave it open again, and there is no way to open and close it except from the inside or from the top docks. He can't fly up to those without exposing his wings to both Magolor and Kirby, something he'd avoided just barely thus far.

He locks the door, calling out a quick, "Be right out" to Kirby and the wizard. He walks up the ship's stairs and out to the deck. If he is careful, he can jump off safely.

The balcony looks wooden, but it is clearly made of metal. The polish on it chips as Meta Knight's tough boots scuff it with each step. He looks out, over the 40 foot drop that separates him from the ground.

He leaps, arms outstretched, eyes closed as the wind ravages his skin.

The impact was by no means painless, yet still soft. The clay hugged against the knight's form, which had toppled over as he lay on his back. Meta Knight opened his eyes, dispelling the momentary feeling of being asleep. He was looking into Magolor's and Kirby's frightened faces. Magolor let out a breath of relief and Kirby squealed with pleasure.

"Dude… High five for surviving that fall. You, like, were out of it for a few minutes."

"POYO!" Kirby cheered. Meta Knight gave a sigh, standing up with a concealed wince. He had once been able to withstand that kind of shock, but now he was just as weak outside as he was feeling inside. 4000 years of immobility weren't exactly healthy for his muscles, even after some extensive therapy treatments.

Magolor's hand floated in the air above Meta Knight for a few seconds until he eventually just gave up on the high five.

* * *

Everyone approached the Lor Starcutter's wrecked hull with armfuls of golden cogs. Meta Knight held at least 20, and Kirby took two, leaving Magolor with the last 18 or so. The group set the spheres down by the reactor with care.

"I'll put them in… er, why don't you two go take a well-deserved rest by the Kabus? It does wonders for you, really, I probably would have died had that place not been so… well, you'll see. It'll fix up any damage that fall left you, Meta Knight."

"We are familiar with the Kabus' healing abilities. There was one on our home planet," Meta Knight drawled carelessly. He was in the middle of thinking deeply about his first confrontation with Cascade there, and then his latter experiences with his nauseating mirror-image. Cascade was a strict master, and the only other person who truly understood the 4000 year prison. Meta Knight, when he had first been reborn, had wanted to know everything about it.

Now that he knew, he wished with every fiber of his being that he didn't. Inside the prison there were intoxicating devices, tricks and traps of all kinds, labyrinths and loads upon loads of dark matter. All of them were safeguards put in place for if the captive ever escaped. Afterwards he had been put through some of those traps as a "graduation" of sorts.

In addition, he had been scolded for not escaping. For having been reduced to mere cinders before Nightmare had so much as sparked his raging inferno of torture plans. The emptiness and boring blankness had been Meta Knight's fault; he lost his hope before it had even come into existence. That lack of drive had robbed Meta Knight of the colors, the feelings, all other kinds of things. And it could have been avoided.

He tried to think elsewhere, divert his attention span from the torrent of fears, the cascade of destruction and wrath. But Meta Knight couldn't. Kirby led him off in the distance towards the looming shadow of the Kabus, and Meta Knight simply followed with an eternal snarl etched onto his face as he pondered his worst enemy, the one he still had yet to vanquish.

Nightmare was unconquerable. That much felt certain. How could any one being hope to combat the anti-soul? The manifestation of all the world's darkest desires, with a menacing free-will and malevolent powers all its own? The star rod, wielded by the most powerful of the purest race, the Poyoans, had still been unable to completely vanquish Nightmare. The root cause of Nightmare, the negative emotions and hatred caused by every being around the universe, was also impossible to overcome. There was just no way to win. All he could do would be to subdue the demon, but even that was not going to work, for the anti-soul was quick witted, intelligent and very resourceful.

But Cascade and Yamikage were not. They were just as mortal as Meta Knight, Kirby, Tiff, Tuff, Kawasaki, Escargoon, Dedede… and they were twice as conceited.

Meta Knight would have his revenge. He would exact it slowly, painfully, too slow and too fast, he would show them what 4000 years of desolation really meant. He wasn't some failed experiment, he wasn't just some short guy with a metal plate for a face, he was a knight, who held many dark secrets but also many hopes for a bright future. He was the cleanser, the one to wipe away yesterday's filthy muck to make way for a shining smile. He wanted Kirby to be loved as he had long dreamed, coveted as a companion and protector to all. Kirby was not just someone who smeared away villainy, but someone who pounded all tyranny into the ground with an iron fist, then stroked a sad child's cheek with a velvety glove. He wanted Kirby to shine, brighter than the brightest light, to have his fiery passion burn like a beacon of hope.

Meta Knight was knocked back into reality by a jolt of pain. He had tripped over a small bump in the clay. Kirby wasn't holding too tightly so he wasn't dragged down. Meta Knight stood and dusted himself off before looking at the cause of his fall. He had tripped over a stone brick, set a little too high above the ground for his shuffling steps to surpass.

Kirby suddenly rushes a few steps forward. His mouth is open, but thankfully he isn't inhaling. Rather, he watches dumbstruck as a fountain of spray shoots upwards from a silvery structure. Meta Knight approaches the structure too, a little less awed but a lot more cautious. He knows what this fountain is, and all of the higher ranked star warriors from before the war do.

The fountain is called Lia's fountain, so named for the first star warrior.

Kirby is entranced by the fountain, which spurts clear-blue water high into the sky like a geyser, and then it falls in a perfect, misty loop into the fountain's thinnest basin. It looks like falling ash to the knight, except for small red bursts flowing out every few minutes. It flows down into another, then down a series of elaborate silvery spirals until thousands of leaves jutting from the fountain's base collect the mist, dropping it into the central basin with the force of a gentle dew drop. The fountain is strong but gentle, beautiful yet simple, complex yet clear. The spray doesn't emerge beyond the circumference of its protective base, as no wind is blowing. The six Kabus form a very wide hexagon, and Meta Knight discovers that he had actually just walked by two on his way to the center of the formation.

Meta Knight has never been here before, but he knows all that has elapsed in the pools of this fountain, and that the few traces of blood that run through it are all from sacrificed star warriors.


	4. The Wake of the Twin Sword's Souls

"The planet had once blossomed with life. The red, moist clay wasn't always as stubborn to the touch, nor was it riddled with red sand. Lia had made sure it was never stubborn in her vegetable garden.

She was a gentle spirit. She stayed about the house, cool as a cucumber. She was the kind of person you could go to for anything, the mother-of-all kinds of thing. She cooked, gardened, the whole nine-domestic-frickin'-yards."

"Sir Falspar, you make her sound like some kind of robot baby-sitter."

"Quiet, Sir Nonsurat. I'm the one telling this story, not you. This part is important, all of 'tis."

A mellifluous yet passionate voice spoke up. "I understand what you are saying, Sir Falspar. But perhaps you should continue. Time is of the essence."

"Right, right. The mission. Well… you see… Lia was always doing noble things for others. She especially loved children. She taught many of the girls the domestic arts, and some of the more abstract ones for her time, such as self-defense. Her home planet still didn't have women's suffrage, see. She helped the sick ones and their parents through tough times, she did all kinds of amazing things with her talent and grace. Nobody knows much about her life before she became a star warrior.

Then the civil war happened. Political turmoil had been rampant in the High Courts of her home for weeks on end, because of immigration and emigration laws. Absurd tariffs were splitting families apart.

An unprecedented declaration of war on another planetary power, and its loss, enraged the public further. Lia had been a nurse in that first war, and legend says she fought in some of the larger battles, even though the war went against her virtues. She was a protector of the weak in the highest regard.

Finally, a group of protesters got so fed up that they robbed a local gun store and plunged their city, state, and eventually planet into chaos. It was a chain reaction from the initial brawl. Lia gave up all pretenses of docility, and she joined the resistance army against the High Courts. She had somehow seen the future, knowing what would happen if their plans succeeded. Of course, so far, what I'm telling you are rumors, hints that were left for us to find thousands of years later. Who knows what she was really doing.

The legislature that followed the civil war's outbreak condemned all to death. The combat raged for weeks. Nobody supported the government except some sadistic radicals who had been paranoid for weeks on end, and thus prepared for the fighting. Those few pockets gave the resistance loads of trouble, actually destroying its de-facto leader. Afterwards, rumors of brainwashing began spreading and terrified the survivors. When nuclear weapons became involved after an alleged affair between the Council Master of the High Court and the Prime Minister of another region, her world was almost annihilated.

Lia assumed command of the weakened resistance, a small number of some 100 people poorly trained for war or with diabolical agendas of their own. She marshaled those troops, dispelled their fears, earned their loyalty and marched right alongside them into the thick of battle. After the period of unrest amongst the rebels, which had nearly extinguished the war and their number, it was Lia who made victory seem achievable.

Then there were a rash number of treason hangings, people from her home town, people she had known and loved. Or so the rumors go. They had done nothing wrong; it was only an underhanded attempt to ruin her bravado. Only she knew that, though, the rumors floating convinced everyone that they were the worst rebels. Right about now she started erasing her past from memory, forgetting how to love, how to laugh, all kinds of happiness had to leave her if she was to complete the task at hand. Her home town was burned, including her home and her worldly possessions.

With so few numbers against a greater power, it was a miracle that they lasted so long. Lia inspired so many, the success brought new hopes, and she literally turned that war around on its heels after the hangings. Soldiers that had been lost before were found, but many had lost their memories. Brainwashing was still suspected, to a degree. They joined the cause, seeing Lia's valor and wisdom, hoping to end the war. The entire planet was locked into it now, World War 64."

"64? By the stars, there were so few back then," spoke a bewildered Sir Nonsurat. He'd heard the story before, but that was long ago, and he was fuzzy on the numerical details.

"Yeah… Do you think anyone still counts nowadays?"

"… Nightmare, probably. It would be the kind of thing for an evil overlord to do." The mellifluous voice tried to sound like he was speculating, but of all the star warriors, he knew that demon commander the most. His commander. Nightmare had most certainly been keeping count of the thousands of world wars he had directly and indirectly caused. He relished in its growing number.

"I suppose that makes sense, Meta Knight. But keep your voice down."

"Yes, Sir Nonsurat." Meta Knight never liked following orders of these paper-pushers, but he still had the story to hear, and he wasn't going to spoil his immaculate record and his hopes of being respected over something trivial like this. With so many other star warriors killed already, he had much better chances of being liked by the commander, Sir Arthur.

"Well, back in Lia's time, nobody understood the strange politics of the months before and during the world war," Falspar continued. Other countries were just pissed at each other for the hell of it; she was still determined to gain independence. Additional countries wanted in, hoping to make money off of the turmoil and some of the regions vast resources, others kept them out, for their own selfish reasons.

She somehow figured it all out, and knew exactly what to do. So… she turned herself in, in exchange for the lives of her soldiers, the safety of the planet and for a chance to speak with the Council Master himself. They dragged her, bound and gagged, to the steps of the High Court, where they planned to torture her for information. Eventually they wanted to execute her and make her an example.

She went in the building, and nobody is exactly sure what happened in there. There were some rumors floating about, and believe me, they ain't pretty, but the one thing everyone knows is that nothing changed her. She walked out the building one day, yes, walked out the building and just sat down on the steps like she was waiting for a pizza."

"How do you think she escaped?"

"Sir Nonsurat, I'm trying to explain this thing to Meta Knight and why it's important to our mission! If you could shut up for more than five seconds then maybe we could get somewhere."

"Deal with it. I'm curious."

"You deal with it. I don't know how and if I did you'd have to call me Sir Houdini."

"I'm not gonna deal with it, Sir Hou-gives-a-damn."

Meta Knight let them stare each other down. Everyone in the army was tense nowadays, which was good for Nightmare but bad for him. For one thing, he had to deal with others griping, and gripe at the same time to appear normal. Pessimism didn't suit him well. He was sick of these family spats and he longed to get back to the closest place resembling "home." Nightmare could easily take advantage of this, and he did on a regular basis by increasing his power.

"Excuse me, but we are on a tight schedule, Sirs Nonsurat and Falspar."

"Yes… erm… Shame on you for your immaturity, Sir Falspar."

Sir Falspar let out a groan of disapproval but didn't dignify him with a response. He continued the story without any sort of pause.

"So the Council master and all the other officials got up to their bloody podium in their bloody council robes. And they were going to shoot her, then and there. She hadn't told them a word and they were ready to get the execution over with. She just sort of stood there with this priceless grin as they read aloud the terms. A growing mob formed, calling to her, but she kept quiet.

An ambush took place and the bullet meant for her heart instead shot the Council Master. Lia escaped, but her rescue party did not.

The plan was for all of them to travel away in a shuttle, off to a neutral planetoid and to recover until the right time to re-enter the battlefield. Only she made it on the ship, and some time afterwards, she saw a nuclear force destroy her home planet and all that inhabited it. Since she's the only survivor, nobody knows why. There's a lot of gaps here, you know.

She was transported by the ship's autopilot to another dimension, the land of the Ancients, where she set to learning their secrets.

She befriended Photron, of the race of light, and eventually asked him to build her a suitable traveling companion. She was lonesome from her days of traveling by space-shuttle, and she no longer had anyone from home, so she called upon his skill and craftsmanship to solve the problem.

He forged her a sword, of shining gold metal, but infused with the properties of so many other metals that it was no longer malleable. It was the strongest and most beautiful weapon in the universe, or so he said to her. She named it Galaxia, in honor of her fallen Galaxy Rebel Army members, and then she traveled back to her own dimension, where she used the blade to wipe the slate clean and remove the nuclear aftermath. Now, the lush greenery of the planet was gone, replaced by the red muck and grainy sand that had always lain beneath.

Galaxia spoke to her, and revealed all its powers to Lia. She was enthralled by it and spoke with it every chance she got. The sword was very vocal, and it told her magnificent tales with its deep, masculine voice. Galaxia was the strongest blade any person could hope to wield.

But she was not happy. Enraged by the loss of her people, she could no longer handle the pressure of solitude. Galaxia was not enough to save her. She needed companionship, from a living being, so she went back to Photron and she begged that he make Galaxia a living creature. But he could not oblige, the soul was in the sword and it could not be transferred to another object. She wept, for she desired a powerful companion, one of striking handsomeness, but with a tender touch. She wanted a husband. It's no surprise to me, that was how she was raised. You know, anti-feminism and all that. Masculinism, maybe? Is that even an ism? But that's not the important thing.

Photron understood her struggle, and when she left the dimension, he gathered all of the ancients together. After lengthy deliberation, and with countless hours of effort, they crafted a device called Nova. It would grant her deepest wish. They sent it through the space-time continuum until it was finally able to see Lia.

Lia met Nova one day as she was tending to her planet. But try as she would, nothing grew. She looked up at Nova and it spoke to her.

'I AM NOVA' it said. 'I CAN GRANT YOU ONE WISH. PHOTRON OF THE RACE OF LIGHT SENT ME AS A GIFT FOR YOU. I TRAVELED THE FABRIC OF SPACE-TIME TO SPEAK WITH YOU. MY CREATOR IS AN OLD, DYING MAN NOW. IT WAS HIS LAST WISH FOR ME TO HELP YOU. WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR WISH I WILL DISAPPEAR FOREVER, ONLY TO BE SUMMONED BY THE STRENGTH OF SEVEN RAINBOW STARS. THINK CAREFULLY.'

She asked it to create a companion, with the deep soul that Galaxia had, the same sharp, masculine drawl of the eloquent fighter. But she was hesitant, for she also wanted to save her home land from its plight. She was torn between selfishness and selflessness, a choice she had made once before. This time, she chose selfishness.

'Nova,' she said, 'my wish is that I may take my sword Galaxia and split it into a living being. I want it to still be a sword, but for its soul to come out and take the form of a living creature that can eat, speak and sleep with me. Can you do this?'

'THE TASK IS DIFFICULT. BUT I SHALL GRANT YOUR WISH. 3… 2… 1… GO.'

Nova latched onto the sword and leeched out its life force, until it was just a shell, devoid of a soul. Nova continued shaping the soul into the being Lia desired, but at a terrible price.

The pure sword had no soul of its own. It demanded to have a life, a feeling other than its cold, metallic film. The closest life, Lia's, was split into two different parts. She was cut into two separate beings, a male and female. One of the halves was absorbed into the sword, but which one it was, I'll never know. There are two accounts of what happened from there. This is the one that makes more sense: the other half retained Lia's original body. The male portion of her soul was trapped there, making the sword a female.

She was now changed, no longer dreaming of a companion, but dreaming of regaining her other half. Galaxia's first soul was finally shaped into a new race, a rather rotund one, but one of unfathomable power. The first Poyoan, the backbone of the Star Warriors, was born. We are descendants of that race, the pure race."

Meta Knight chuckled noiselessly. He was by no means pure, or the descendent of some dumb half-soul. He found the situation so funny that he nearly broke his cover. Nearly. He was too well trained for it to happen.

"He was named Galacta, after the sword, and then Nova vanished to roam the land as it desired. Lia and Galacta soon became close to one another. The two were inseparable, and they conspired and spoke until Lia realized that Galacta was like her other half. Galacta trained in the virtues of honesty and valor, bestowing himself with the title of knight.

Galacta Knight built many artifacts to show his love for his companion, statues of gold and silver, petrified totems in her race's likeness. These became some of the first Kabus. They were much more intricate and rounded than the ones we have, and they could shoot lasers from the eye sockets. The ones we are familiar with had to be carved quickly, for when one is injured, appearances are by no means a priority.

He also helped her carve the statue fountain that now bore her name. She loved him, and they gave birth to a healthy purple-skinned child. Lia and Galacta saw that their son had strange abilities, gifts that rivaled Lia's insight and grace, Galacta's power and intellect. The boy was an expert fighter, and he befriended many children. Suddenly, the abilities cropped up within them as well. The children allied, they became super-natural.

When they grew of age, they joined the Galaxy Soldier Army, Galacta's Poyoan-Only fleet named for Lia's old rebel group that travelled the galaxies in search of wars to quell. For a time, all was well. They came to be known as the Star Warriors over time, for the special air ships they flew around the galaxy.

There was one particular war that split a rift in the star warriors, World War 256. This was the first major appearance of dark matter. Galacta fought bravely with his men and women, and Lia did as well, but some of the other star warriors turned. There were seven sides, fighting a bloody war that tore apart entire galaxies. Six of the brightest star warriors fought for their host's interests, the dark matter.

Four of the sides died out. One ran away in fear of the abomination of the others. One became Nightmare. And the last side was the true chain of star warriors, fighting the oppression until there were none left to fight. That is our chain now.

After that, Star Warriors stopped passing their abilities through their lineage. They say when a star warrior dies, his soul latches onto another, like Galacta's did, but no new ones are created. So Star Warriors are spread far and wide throughout the Galaxy, into every race. They are very limited and, as you know, nearly impossible to find. We're lucky we found you, Meta Knight."

If only that were true. Meta Knight had actually searched for them and then feigned innocence for a while. Theoretically he was still feigning innocence, but to a much lesser extent.

"Galacta and Lia were sealed away by the fleeing side. Nobody knows where they are now. The war was lost and the star warriors disbanded. We've only been recently reestablished by Sirs Arthur and Dragato, you know. And now, we've got Nightmare to thank for all this violence. What worries me is if that other one comes back, you know, the other evil star warrior who lived through the 256 war. If he really is the one that sealed Galacta and Lia away, then he is extremely powerful, not to mention dangerous and hostile."

"But on a better note, that's the end of the story, and we don't have to listen to you drone on about history," chimed Sir Nonsurat.

"Oh hush," Falspar whined, settling into a routine quarrel as Meta Knight pondered the story.

They said Nightmare was once a Star Warrior, but the star traits were not passed by lineage. What if, by some divine chance, demon beasts were a branch of star warriors, making all beasts like Meta Knight? If he got the ability, was it luck, or did Nightmare want it to be that way? Could he still pass the traits with his lineage? Did he actually send Meta Knight to these star warriors to kill them, or did he really send him to learn about his heritage and guess at his master's intentions?

Maybe the other Once-Star-Warrior-Turned-Evil, the one who had sealed Galacta and Lia, maybe they were important in the grand scheme of things as well. It would pose a threat in the long run, but maybe it had been dealt with already. He wouldn't know for some time yet. What did its demon beasts look like, if it even had any? Did it have a knight of its own in this army? Maybe it was a knight itself.

He entertained himself with speculations for a while, though he was not the type to dream and imagine things yet to be.

These speculations were the first things that had led him to rebel, to come to the side of light. He had been thinking abstractly when the notion of defecting from Nightmare came to him… and he was inclined to accept it. He had just as good of a name here as he did with his old master, but here everyone was equal, everyone a sir or knight or master of the arts in his own regard, unique yet connected. There, everything was a tool, a shape, a sword or a scythe; usable until blunt, then it would be destroyed and shaped into something new. Here there was true respect; there one could only find fear.

And here, he was surrounded by his race, of marginally silly yet strong Poyoan warriors, staying proud, brave and loyal to a fault.

Would he?


	5. The Second Horror

"That is the story of the fountain, Kirby. Did you enjoy it?"

"Poy yo poy yo!" Kirby said with a cheer. Meta Knight had dumbed down the tale a bit, so Kirby would not be confused or drawn into the same strange speculation as he had at one time, but it was largely the same. Lia, a wise caretaker, plunged into a war she didn't deserve to see. But bravely she commanded her troops, fighting for justice, and eventually became the mother of the first star warrior. But "Nightmare" had caused another war, one with all kinds of star warriors, some good and some evil. This part particularly had angered Kirby. When Lia was sealed away, he cried so loudly that Magolor heard from a distance, but Kirby calmed down after a while, staring into the misty fountain spray.

This spray was what currently occupied the two. It curled in tendrils around their arms and legs, gently grasping them and pulling them into an intoxicating embrace. The fountain spelled faintly of roses but no greenery was to be found. The spray played tricks on their eyes too; every so often a face would appear, and a word would be whispered, but even Meta Knight's advanced hearing could not identify the sounds. He couldn't help but worry that he was missing something. Kirby was positively entranced but he said nothing to the knight about it.

Perhaps it was because this was the first real fountain he had seen in a while. The flowing water had a relaxing effect, and since Kirby was used to living on Dreamland's rocky coast, he loved the sound of lapping water.

Meta Knight just hoped his mask wasn't rusting. After a while, he realized that he was extremely thirsty, and he turned to Kirby with a smile.

"Are you thirsty, little one? You have shown much restraint so far, I did not realize I was keeping you from the water. Go, have a nice long drink. I shall join you in a minute."

Kirby rushed from the knight to jump into the fountain water. He rinsed off the sand clinging to him, and he lapped up the falling water with unchecked desire. He drank and twirled and smiled, his little cheers coming as freely as the water did. Meta Knight looked at the fountain, too ashamed to join his little companion in the water.

The silver of the fountain dulled slowly as the sunset began to fade to inky blackness. It was time to head back for the night. Kirby leapt up and shook off the water before following the knight back west again.

As he went, he seemed to wave goodbye to the fountain waters, as though they were parting friends. Meta Knight puzzled briefly on this but just decided it was the boy's playful nature that led him to the action. Kirby strolled on, happy as a lark, until he realized his little tummy required some sustenance.

"Poy…" he moaned as a rumble and a squeal escaped his belly.

"I see you have worked up an appetite. You were a very big help today, I guess you can have dessert after all." Meta Knight chuckled inwardly as he saw the child leap with an excited cheer. Tomorrow they would find the last spheres, tomorrow they would fix the ship's hull, and all kinds of different possibilities awaited them. Now, dinner was the only possibility that Kirby was fixed on, but he would leap with excitement at the next day's adventures, too.

Meta Knight and Kirby reached Magolor, thanking him for the information about the Kabu fountain, and then the two headed for the ship. It was sinking a little into the clay but not very much, and surely they would be able to fix the Starcutter before it was too deeply sunk. Sands covered the top of the ship, coating it in a thin red layer that obscured it from any prying eyes above. Kirby floated himself up to the top of the deck, while Meta Knight climbed the walls of the boat. He would have preferred flying, but he needed the upper body workout and he didn't want to expose his wings just yet. Someday, but not today. It wasn't worth spoiling the cheerful mood.

* * *

Dinner was uneventful. Kirby sucked down everything he could get and Meta Knight tried to quash his own ravenous appetite with all the meat he could find. The two weren't completely full, had seriously depleted their rations and would likely go a little hungrier tomorrow. Their continued success depended on whatever edible items Magolor could scrape together from his burnt supplies.

In addition, there was no dessert to be found for poor Kirby. He searched high and low for candy, shortcake, ice cream, pudding, frozen yogurt, peppermint, chocolate, anything to satisfy his sweet tooth. Nothing of the sort could be found, Meta Knight didn't even have a secret candy stash to resort to. Kirby cried a good deal before he ran out of tears to cry. He reached some sort of internal conclusion at any rate, and he stopped searching the corridors and instead sulked about the kitchen, haphazardly peeking into empty cabinets he had checked twice over.

Meta Knight spent the night in the armory, looking at the broad swords, short swords, kunai, lances, shields, guns, quivers, shurikens, maces, javelins, axes and tridents. There was one item that stood out against the rugged weapons; a small pocket knife hanging from a key hook. Its base was red with silver screws, polished to perfection. He could see its color against the walls, very brightly, and it taunted him; asking him to pick it up and slice and slash as though it were Galaxia. But it was just a simple knife, with only one dull, un-pronged blade to speak of. The intense quality it possessed beckoned him to pull off his mask, to revel in its rage as its partner, run rampant though the murky planet like a chicken with its head cut off.

Such an idea was absurd, as absurd as his previous fancy of building sandcastles with Kirby. And yet…

No. Just no. He had to control himself and he was much stronger than he believed. What was so pressing that he had to expose his eyes to the naked light, anyway?

…Should he even be stopping himself? Really, what harm could it do to lock the doors and just take a quick peek at the armory? Only a quick one. He'd even tie himself to something heavy, so that he wouldn't get into anything dangerous. Just see some of the colors. Not the violent red, oh no, but something calmer, like green or aqua blue. If only he knew about something that was aqua blue…

There was the fountain, but that was much too far away. There were no plants, either, and nothing on his person that he knew to be the correct color.

Well, he would find out within a couple seconds, anyway. He backed himself against the wall, facing away from the pocket knife. He grabbed a length of cord off of the floor, and a few quick tugs revealed it to be the rope for a grappling hook. He used Galaxia to slice away the metal piece, and then he fastened the rope tightly around his body. He grabbed each end, tying one to the nearest spear rack, and the other end to the door knob. When he was certain that he was fastened securely, he dimmed the lights of the room, so that he could slowly work his way up to full color.

All was ready. The only step that remained was for him to "pull the trigger," so to speak. He reached up gently to the strap, ready to lift it a fraction of an inch, ready to see all he couldn't see, ready to change his fate from bleak to bright. But he hesitated. The same thoughts ran through his head incessantly, warring and warning him of something. This terrible sense of dread he felt, what was it trying to say?

He listened for a noise, a hint, a sound of any sort to clarify what in the star's name he was doing wrong. Was he not destined to see the color? Would it cripple him, even in the waning light?

Did he care? He was not something to be pushed and puppeteered by the universe's invisible strings, oh no, he was stronger and stricter and wiser and faster than any other he knew. He was a brave star warrior, an escaped recluse of the dark. He had seen far worse things than a bunch of silly colors! Why should he be afraid of the images others could see? Why should he be blocked from that he sought most deeply, his purpose to fulfill?

How could he protect Kirby if he was handicapped in this way?

He stopped listening to himself wallow in pity subconsciously, instead he wrenched the mask off, full force, tearing the little elastic strap and forcing himself to look out at the foreign world surrounding him.

It was worse than he had imagined. His eyes practically bled themselves dry, crying out in agony as his body writhed uncontrollably in self-defense, unable to understand the enemy that had destroyed its sight. Meta Knight's logical thoughts and self-derision were over, now he was once again reduced to a child, begging for its mother to hold it tight.

His wings were the worst. They sprouted without command, twisting and churning in ways that should not have been physically possible. His abomination of a body reeled, swiveled, and nearly crushed itself attempting to grab the nearest weapon, Galaxia. It was strewn on the floor a few feet away for safety. Thankfully his feet kept him upright, and though they shifted just as much as the rest of him, they somehow resembled a standing position and with the rope's stability he didn't take a tumble to the floor.

He was capable of producing short thought bursts after a time, and the first that came to him mind was the word: control. His body began slowing into a state of self-induced paralysis, as the knight willed his arms and legs to stay still. Begrudgingly they slowed.

His wings, however, did not slacken; in fact they moved farther and faster than they had before. He could not see perfectly clearly, as his eyes were covered in a thick, liquidy film of blood and tears, so they were blocked from the very thing he had hoped to see. The red of his blood gave him more panic then he could surmount, causing his wings to buck and weave every time he thought of them.

More or less his thought process was restored. His arms and legs responded to certain slow commands, such as "lift five centimeters" or "touch your left temple." He put himself through these antagonizing routines in an attempt to reestablish a full range of motion.

After about an hour of this, he realized how late at night it must be. His exhaustion was forcing his wings to slow down some, but they still wriggled away from his grasp whenever he forcibly attempted to calm them. Once or twice, the little prongs of the wings snapped at him, trying to tell him to go away. But the prongs didn't trouble him too much, as the wings didn't give them more than a few seconds to exact their malevolent revenge at each twist.

Finally he had his motor skills back enough so that he could clear the film from his eyes. The reason he did not blink was because he had no eyelids, but rather, a clear film like a snake possessed. Nightmare had done that to him for a reason, difficult as it was. It was a mark, a mark designed to remind him at every possible moment who he was and why he was made. Without the bloody muck filling his sight, he noticed the brown, black and tan weapons with silvery specks surrounding him. Judging from the make of the blades, he determined the weaponry to be of Ironcladdish origin.

Ironcladd was a mountainous planet, colonized by odd creatures who mined for a living. Knuckle Joe had been born there, but had been involved in metallurgy during his youth rather than mining. It had an odd culture, one that promoted haughty roughness and success over freedom and virtues. The people were simple minded, and had short tempers, but created some of the best weapons, ships and jewels known to sentient kind. Most members of the land were filthy rich, and in the possession of luxurious homes and garb, but many chose to live frugally and in the shadow of the Oberjarl. The Oberjarl was their de-facto leader, a man named Silva at the moment. Silva was decked in glorious jewels, but had a particular taste from black, square iron rings. Many of the citizens copied the Oberjarl's grandeur, sporting black square cloth signs or earrings or even undergarments. Most of the citizens were male on Ironcladd, and the few females were generally prostitutes, as women were not accepted into the planet's primary profession. Meta Knight shuddered at the dishonorable wreck he would have become had he been born there. Joe was a lot tamer than most of the Ironcladdians, and he was still temperamental in the extreme.

Meta Knight's wings now raged with the same volatile countenance, curling their leathery folds into vicious snarls and tangles, biting and snapping with their pin-prick rose thorns. Meta Knight shook his head, now that he could understand the darkness surrounding him, and now that he was making progress, he was still not even close to normal, and he probably would not be by morning.

It wasn't until he decided to sleep as he was that night when the second horror fully came upon him.

He closed his eyes as closed at they could be, though he could see around him. The clear film of his false eye lids was still smeared with grime but he would take care of that later. Right now he just needed to rest, for his limbs were exhausted from their tirade and even his wings wanted to settle down so that they could renew their assault in the morning. Meta Knight grabbed his mask from the floor, but realized that in his previous excitement he had ruined the strap. Unless Magolor had one, he wouldn't be able to fix the mask.

He cursed a foul torrent of words as he tried to come up with an excuse for the wizard and the child. None presented itself, and walking around maskless in a sandstorm was an unappealing prospect.

"Quick question," came an unexpected and airy voice, startling Meta Knight from his thoughts. "What in the name of his majesty, Lord Nightmare, are you doing?"

Meta Knight instantly pivoted to see none other than Yamikage facing him.

"Gah! How did you get in here!" For one thing, they were on a deserted planet, and for another, he had locked all the doors.

"Oh, I'm a ninja; of course I have my ways."

Meta Knight gave another cry of frustration. "Do you know when to quit? I thought we had been through this; I am not going back to him, staying with him for any length of time while I am in my right mind and I am not going to fight you again."

"I've trailed you… for a different purpose."

"And it's my turn to guess, is it not? Let us see, what could you want when I am in probably the most inconvenient position, tied up by my own hands, in a room full of weapons? You want to kill me, and present my carcass to your vile commander in exchange for a few seconds of recognition and a pat to the head? Good boy, Yamikage, you have truly learned a lot! Maybe next time you can play fetch with your very best friend, Cascade?" The knight's sugary tone oozed sarcasm and an air of pleased malice.

Yamikage snarled, although he tried desperately not to. The blow to his pride was a very strong one. He hung his head slightly in shame, causing his entire stature to sink dejectedly. "…not today, you pompous brat."

"Whatever, I have no time for your silly family spats. I have got my own problems to deal with, as you can clearly tell." The knight gestured to his wings and their violent movements, as well as his mask with its tattered strap. The rope and the fact that his face was exposed escaped his notice as he unleashed his pent-up rage at the ninja, talking civilly then practically screaming at the ninja.

The more he rambled, the faster Yamikage restored his bravado and his purpose. "Enough! I will not stand to hear any more of this! I came for a purpose and it was sure as hell not to hear you gripe."

"Then what are you here for? Get to it, black shadow!"

The ninja's fear and nervousness came full force as his soft spoken manner returned. "I came to… ask for your help."

Meta Knight stared dumbly for a few seconds. This was the polar opposite of reality right now; surely his eyes and ears were deceiving him, though they had been infallible before.

"You want… what now? My help? Are you kidding? You tracked me and this ship across galaxies and approached me in the middle of the night to do… what? HELP YOU? By the stars, ninja-boy, do you hear yourself?"

Yamikage snapped, "Shut your filthy tongue up! I will not be called 'ninja-boy' a moment longer! Look… I don't know why I'm asking you either, but you are the only other person who understands this. It's… it's about Cascade."

"Go on. I am _really_ interested about this. No, really, I swear." Meta Knight barely suppressed a giggle. But giggling was not in his nature, especially when confronted by the messenger of his worst Nightmare. If he was tracked here by the right-hand man it meant that Nightmare couldn't be too far behind. He had to fly out tomorrow, with or without Magolor.

"I find your attitude peculiarly infuriating. I always have, I always will. But, I suppose, now is the time to set aside our differences and fight in unison."

Meta Knight continued his blank stare, until his eyebrows started furrowing. "Against Cascade? Why do you need to silence his pompous tongue? You are the right-hand man, for Pete's sake. You could easily convince Nightmare to demote him."

"He's the right-hand man now. I… was the one who was demoted. I risked everything for our master; you know what that feels like to see the rewards before you. I was loyal, I was cunning, I… pranced in circles like a ballerina when he wanted me to. And this is the thanks I get, your stupid doppelganger kicking my ass out to the high heavens? I won't stand for it a minute longer. I will destroy that pest of a Poyoan and everything he stands for. But… I can't do it alone. He has the dark emperor on his side, and all I've got are a few worthless underlings. That's why I need you. You are a smart knight; you see the things the untrained eye can miss. You've done it before, I know. And I'm sure, in your mind, you still have the blood-thirst enough to kill him. Surely you see the merit in banding together for a while."

Meta Knight pondered for all of a second before reaching a decision. "Not for the world. I am not risking my life for… for _this_, after countless years of you tormenting me. What makes you think I would help you, even if it was against that vile son-of-a-"

"Just hear me out; there is another upside to this. Nightmare wants you dead; he wants to do it himself. If you help me with this I can assure you that nothing of the sort can happen. I would sooner let myself die, that is, if you help me."

"So. I see where you are going with this. I expose myself with this little game, and then die, unless you expose me first right now? Good boy, Yamikage, you learned how to blackmail. But you will lose this little game. It is high-time you stopped chasing your tail and playing tricks."

"No. You need not expose yourself," Yamikage said, ignoring the insult. "In fact, it would be the opposite. Nightmare is circling the planet as we speak right now, with a fleet of 1000 destrayas and at least half of his arsenal. Cascade is still back home, where Nightmare thinks I am as well. Let's just say I… dismantled my babysitter."

Meta Knight's eyes twitched dangerously. "I cannot believe you. This is just painful for me to hear at this point." Not only because Kirby and I are slated for destruction, he thought, but also, "Because your folly is absolutely hysterical."

"I can get you and Kirby off of this planet, as well as take you to the lair, where we will kill Cascade and then you two can use the transporter to go wherever you want. I can even destroy any evidence of your trip, so he will think that you could be anywhere, and may give up the search." Yamikage sounded deadly certain.

Meta Knight finally just shook his head, grabbing up swiftly and catching his rebellious wings. He used the prongs to slice away the rope before holding the mask up to his face. He flicked on the lights fully, dazing Yamikage for a few moments before giving his final answer. The wings retracted back to his cape.

"Promise me all you want, dark shadow, but perhaps we can be a little smarter about this. I would rather not bloody my hands for your sake, but if your story is true then I have a plan that can keep us both happy. Me, alive, Cascade and possibly you, too, dead."

Yamikage rolled his eyes. "Hurry up, playboy, I haven't got all day. Or are you going to keep holding up your clothes like that?"

"I broke the elastic strap, so yes, I am."

"That doesn't seem particularly wise. Do you have a spare? I've got something that could work. Pretend it is... collateral, if you will." Yamikage pulled a black and white bandana from his sleeve. The fabric was soft, simple, but thickly woven. It wasn't stretchable in the slightest.

"It will not work, it is not elastic. I cannot get it over my head." Yamikage didn't care, thrusting the cloth at him anyway.

Yamikage suddenly switched topics. "Meta Knight, have you learned what a contraction is? I might just look like a fool to you but it appears that I at least have some form of intelligence."

"That I have, Yamikage, that I have. Contractions just do not suit me. I was raised a little differently, it seems. Every word holds immense power, why rush them for the sake of time?" He paused. "Surely you, a jutsu master, can understand what I really mean."

Yamikage nodded but still frowned, catching the knight's deeper message. "I hear you but I don't agree with you."

"Do what you will. I am still convinced that you are a double crosser, however, so do not think you have slipped under my radar by feigning innocence."

"I'm not trying to; I just want the whole damn 'mirror image' thing dead. I can't handle him bossing me around the way he does, and I'm sick of the same things happening over and over again every time he replaces you. Remember when you went to the mirror world? Dark Meta Knight ringing any bells?"

Meta Knight scowled. "I liked Shadow Yamikage better. What was it like, seeing yourself twirl about onstage? At least she was a good ballerina, I will give her that."

Yamikage reddened. "You've made your point."

Shadow Yamikage, unlike the one Meta Knight was familiar with, was completely opposed to tradition. A hipster of sorts, Shadow Yamikage had switched genders and danced regularly at night clubs. She also enjoyed reading and writing literature, but her works were all terribly crafted and about self-empowerment. The entire ordeal had been completely embarrassing and nearly untouchable as a point of discussion since.

Dark Meta Knight was even more painful to see, at least for the real one. Dark Meta Knight had no honor, no virtue, and was completely unreasonable. His underhanded schemes and dastardly sharp sword sliced down some of the best star warriors. To top it all off, he matched the real knight almost perfectly, meaning that he could fool anyone into submission, so long as nobody noticed that Galaxia was forged of a different metal.

Meta Knight decided to look out the large glass dome in the ceiling, to determine how many soldiers were actually present and see if his plan was feasible. He would need to head a few floors up before he could locate it. If there were any soldiers visible, it could turn into a battle of wits, for Meta Knight was the only person aboard who could actively fight through ships. Kirby was still relatively inexperienced and he wasn't going to put the little Poyoan through the gauntlet on an empty stomach and in the middle of the night. That lack of physical strength left him only his cunning mind to work with. This fight was his and his alone.

"Yamikage… what about Kirby? What are you going to do with him?"

"I locked him in the supply closet... Whoa, don't look at me like that! He's still asleep and I put down a pillow for him! It's just in case anyone gets in the ship. What, you want him dead right now? I'll take him out, he can join us. Kirby is part of my plan of attack as much as you are. If we can't get to Cascade because he knows us too well, then Kirby can easily fend him off."

"You foul… never mind, it is not worth it. I will get him out myself after we look outside. I was going to at least try to be civil but imprisoning poor Kirby is not something I will ever tolerate. I will slaughter you where you stand as soon as this is finished, trust me, it is a promise."

"Why don't you just do it now and get it over with, then?" Yamikage asked. His defeated manner was only making him appear weaker, in Meta Knight's opinion.

"Because I need you for my own plans. Remember, you are on my ship, asking for my help, and while you do so, _you are on my side_, like it or not, and my side is dead set against your callous master. So are you… for the time being."

Yamikage hung his head in shame. "I know that…"

Without another word Meta Knight set the mask against his face, using the black and white bandana to secure it. He wrapped and tied it into a loop, then wiggled it over his waist and into a relatively comfortable position. He looked around, searching for something adhesive, when his eyes beheld a nail gun. He picked it up warily.

If he made one wrong motion he could splinter his entire face. But this had to happen quickly. He held the gun in his right fist, ordered Yamikage to turn around and stay silent, then he set the gun nozzle perpendicular to his temple. He put the mask in between it and the makeshift strap.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled the trigger.

Yamikage yelped and turned around, seeing that the knight had skewered his mask onto the cloth through the use of the nail. Somehow. There were so many questions he had; how could the impenetrable metal be broken just by a nail, without cleaving the metal in two? How was his aim so true when he was all but shaking from exhaustion? How did he expect to do it again? Yamikage piped right up, but he was silenced as another sound exploded in the distance. The fire of destrayas cannons.

"We do not have the time for this, damn it!" Meta Knight pulled the trigger again, scraping a small wisp of blue skin, causing the knight to wince in pain. This would have to do for now, they had hostile company. Meta Knight grabbed Yamikage by the pony tail jutting from his head and ran out the door, plunging headfirst out to survey any damage. He smelled no smoke and this area of the ship was intact, but he trusted it not and he had to get a view of the outside. He extended his wings, releasing the ninja from his grip, flying upwards and breaking through the ceiling to get to the next level as quickly as possible.

Yamikage gaped for a few seconds before he reminded himself that he was an elite ninja, trained for battle. But his thoughts were a jumble still, they wouldn't listen. His discipline faltered and he could do no more than look for stairs. When none presented themselves, he leapt up and grabbed the broken panels above him, doing a chin-up to reach the other floor. When he focused again, he leapt up to the second hole in the ceiling, prepared to follow Meta Knight.

* * *

"Kirby! Kirby! Wake up! Where are you? ANSWER ME!" Meta Knight called in vain as he ascended each floor. Three floors later he was no closer to the Poyoan's hideout but infinitely closer to the glass domed ceiling. He turned a few more corners until he reached the doorway to the place he was searching feverishly for.

He grabbed the handle, literally ripping the wood from its hinges and he flew up with such great haste that his head smacked the glass. Fortunately, even his raging movement didn't cause any cracks, and he gathered himself before he fell completely. He took a longer glance.

It was worse than he had imagined out there. The entire fleet of destrayas must be after him, as he could see not one star in the entire sky. Every space was filled with iron saucers, all of which were preoccupied shooting at the metal hull of the Lor Starcutter. Magolor could just barely be seen yards away, waving frantically as he exited his hut. Moments later it was destroyed and it billowed out a black cloud of smoke. From here, the knight could imagine that it was choking the air.

And at the head of all these ships, literally floating out in the open as the rain of fire purged the clay of the broken vessel was the massive blue starred cape, belonging to the ultimate evil, the anti-soul himself, Nightmare.

* * *

**Bolded words are the TL;DR of this author's note.**

You know **author's notes are uncommon from me**, well, too bad, because **today you're getting one**!

So an update on the story progress: This chapter ends my "chapter cushion."

**Updates will become less frequent** but chapter **six is nearly finished**. These other ones were finished well in advance, actually a bit before Cascade of Nightmares officially ended, so that is the reason such long chapters were posted so quickly. I posted the first chapter only for a very quick preview and **I was so surprised by the positive response** that I posted this early.

As the holidays draw to a close, so does a measure of my free time. I won't tell you when I get off the site, or for what reason, but suffice it to say... _**the dreaded real life responsibilities are at hand!**_

I haven't been getting any requests for things or characters you want to see in the sequel, except for a request to see Zero/Zero Two that was made in the original. It both concerns me and makes me happy, as it means I've either been doing the story perfectly or nobody cares. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that I'm doing this right. **IF YOU HAVE REQUESTS TO PUT IN CHARACTERS PLEASE GIVE THEM TO ME!**


	6. The Hour of his End Approacheth

He dropped to the floor of the room, clutching at his heart and breathing heavily. Nightmare's blue cape appeared to be the appropriate color, and it was the first time he had seen it that way in over 4000 years. Coupled with his recent experience and the foolish, annoying presence of Yamikage, Meta Knight had his share of drama for the day and he was utterly exhausted. If dehydration, starvation, and just time itself were enough to cripple him, then how could he hope to enact his plan? He needed energy now, fast.

Yamikage entered the room, holding Kirby's pillow at arm's length. He was sound asleep, lying on his belly with a satisfied grin.

Meta Knight tiptoed over, relief washing away his fears as he saw the unharmed child. He picked it up, surveying him with a trained eye. But it was the real Kirby for certain, as his little tummy made a rumbling noise of hunger.

"You would not happen to have any food on your person, would you?"

Yamikage shook his head, setting the pillow between him and the knight. "No, 'fraid we're out of luck there."

"Where is your ship, dark shadow?"

"A little bit to the west. I almost landed at the fountain but I saw Nightmare fly away from it as though it stung him. He was keeping a very close watch over that area."

"Then we can also use that to our advantage."

"Exactly."

"Alright, here is what I need you to do. Go to the kitchen and get absolutely everything edible you can carry. Do you need directions?"

"No, I saw it on my way in."

"Good, bring it all up here, and fast."

Yamikage bowed and melted into the floor, in a whispy, black fog. Meta Knight shook his head with a slight shudder.

"That never gets easier to watch…" He turned to Kirby now, dreaming peacefully about whatever his mind's eye conjured for him.

He nudged the little star warrior gently until he heard a faint coo. "Poy… oh…"

Meta Knight continued, moving Kirby at least sixty times before his eyes opened.

But they were not the correct color.

"I want this child returned to me…" said Kirby, his voice raspy and labored. "I will have him before the night is out! And if I do not, you will face the wrath of the strongest demon of all time! META KNIGHT! THE HOUR OF YOUR END APPROACHETH!"

Meta Knight began trembling as a strange sensation overcame him. Like the other seizures, he was no longer stable or in control of himself, but differently this time, his vision changed too. He saw a different scene before him, not the empty room or a pillow with the Kirby resting, but a grassy plain with a paved road.

The road sloped upwards, following the path of the grassy knoll. In the vision, something was taking flight from the knoll road, a strange pink bird wearing a brown cap. If memory served, this was a birdon, a creature often teased for its inappropriately unfortunate, suggestive name.

The bird flew but began shaking as it took flight, then it fell to the ground in a heap. Meta Knight reached out but suddenly the scene changed. A different creature, some sort of mini-jet hybrid, was trying to fly. Again, if memory served, it was called a capsule J2. J2 was about to take flight from a small metal dock, but as it lifted off an odd movement was seen among the exhaust flames. A zigzag parted down the flame and smoke and suddenly the rider repeated the movement. It was thrown about, side to side, until it too crashed.

The vision shifted to a destraya. It was just taking off from Nightmare's planetary base, but instead of rising, it veered left and wildly right before it crashed. It, too, was shaking.

Meta Knight's mask and pauldrons suddenly clanged together, unleashing a harsh bell-like noise and the vision ended. He stood quivering a minute longer before the tremor stopped.

Had it affected Nightmare? Meta Knight had to know. He raised his wings in a menacing stance, prepared to take flight, but as he leapt, he simply fell back down.

He tried again, soaring up with all his might, feeling the muscles working, but not seeing any result. He turned behind him and noticed that his beloved dimensional cape was not transforming.

He tried again and again, but could not rise any higher than he could naturally jump. Infuriated, he shouted, rousing Kirby again with a start.

"Your flight will fail you this day and forevermore if I do not have the child."

"Kirby! What are you saying! Snap out of it, this is not you! Who is possessing you?"

"META KNIGHT! THE HOUR OF YOUR END APPROACHETH!"

"BY THE STARS, WHO ARE YOU?"

Kirby gave a wretched smile, his mouth twisting and curling like a dead insect's legs.

"…Your worst nightmare." He gave a maniacal laugh, his raspy voice powering up to a strong chuckle, then fading again as the pink one crumbled into a small lump.

* * *

The booming noises and the violent screams terrified the ninja. He was out of his element. He was afraid to oppose his master; he had every reason not to. But this was all to get at Cascade, he had to remember that. He was to do it, live it, dream it and achieve it. He pepped himself up as he grabbed everything from the kitchen, stuffing it into a garbage bag. The cabinets were empty but he checked them all anyway as war raged on outside. When he was sure he had everything, he melted into the floor again, carrying the bundle with him.

He reappeared a few feet in front of the room, standing in the doorway. The knight was busy trying to jump and reach something, but what that was, he wasn't sure. He moved in greeting but suddenly Meta Knight gave a sharp cry of rage. Kirby woke up and promptly_ began speaking, _much to his amazement.

"Your flight will fail you this day and forevermore if I do not have the child."

"Kirby! What are you saying! Snap out of it, this is not you! Who is possessing you?"

"META KNIGHT! THE HOUR OF YOUR END APPROACHETH!"

"BY THE STARS, WHO ARE YOU?"

Kirby gave a wretched smile, his mouth twisting and curling like a dead insect's legs. Not that Yamikage could see it, but he got a bad feeling from it. He backed off from the doorway.

"…Your worst nightmare." Kirby gave a maniacal laugh, his raspy voice accelerating to a hearty chuckle, then fading again as the pink one crumbled into a small lump on the ground. Yamikage ran in to survey the damage, and he dropped the food bag on the floor. He rushed to Meta Knight's side, but on impulse, Meta Knight pushed him away.

"GET AWAY!" He cried, shaking Kirby once more. Kirby's eyes opened, and they were completely blood red. This tipped off Yamikage as to what was going on inside the child.

"Meta Knight! He's been possessed by dark matter! We have to get him to the ship, I have antidote! QUICKLY!"

Meta Knight's head was lowered. He turned up to face Yamikage, his face burning just as red, with thoughts solely focused on his wrath.

"…I was but a bloody fool," he began, his tone crescendoeing to dangerous levels. "And now Kirby has paid the price. You want to kill me? Fine. Do it. _But I will make sure you suffer with me_."

"I didn't do this! I brought the food! I couldn't and wouldn't have! I don't have the ability to control dark matter!"

"Then prove it," Meta Knight said, extending his fists. A ball of maroon goo gathered in his palm, summoned of the knight's free will. He didn't care that he was using his dark side; he just felt such a strong urge to avenge Kirby. And it had to happen now.

"Stop this! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE-" The maroon goo hurtled forward. Meta Knight gently put his fist at his side as the matter went to work.

Yamikage bolted from the maroon splotch, which transformed before his eyes to a deep black eye, with red and yellow at its iris and pupil. The dark matter blinked before targeting the ninja, floating towards him at an alarming pace.

Yamikage ran around the room before making it to the door, the matter hot on his tail. Yamikage had no room or time to teleport and he was stuck only with his wits and his feet.

The matter was faster. It tackled him to the ground before absorbing into his chest. Yamikage stood up to keep running but he was unable to move, locked in a mental battle. Like Kirby, he crumbled to the floor.

Meta Knight ignored him, grabbing the sack of food. He rushed to Kirby's side, shaking him and doing his level best to make him rise. Kirby moved around limply with each push and tug, but did not respond. Meta Knight grabbed some canned meat and set it in his mouth, hoping that it could awaken the child.

This was worse than when he had swallowed a Noddy, Kirby was not getting up no matter what. And this time, they were stuck in a dire situation. No flight, no Kirby, no Yamikage, Nightmare swarming around him and an unfortunate case of dark matter.

He tried to locate its presence in the little warrior, but the only dark matter he could feel within the room was coming from Yamikage. He placed his hand on the boy, hoping he could draw it out himself, but nothing happened. No, dark matter was not the source of Kirby's troubles.

Now he had very few options to turn to. Yamikage was immersed in his silent struggle. Meta Knight had decided he was innocent, he decided to recall the dark matter to his palm.

He tapped his foot on the ground once, and suddenly Yamikage ceased movement. The dark matter began to appear, as tiny dots of black formed all over the ninja's skin. They suddenly flowed upwards, coalescing into a single ball of maroon goo. The sludge came to his hand and was absorbed within, and Meta Knight fought internally to replace the matter to deep depths of his blackened heart. When it was finally locked back away, Yamikage sat up. He looked confused.

"What… what just happened?"

"You grabbed the food and then you came back here and promptly fainted. Something happened to Kirby, he acts as though he was possessed by dark matter but I cannot sense any within him. Perhaps the same dark force is affecting you. Come on, we have a message to relay for Nightmare."

"A message? Are you crazy? He'll destroy us the minute he knows where we are!"

"Not if I can help it." Meta Knight picked up Kirby's pillow and motioned for Yamikage to take the bag of food.

"What are you thinking, Meta Knight? What are you going to say?"

"Exactly what I have to, no more, no less."


	7. Deal with the Devil

"Nightmare! It is I, Meta Knight!" The odd receiver-recorder boomed from the top dock of the Babel. It screeched with a few seconds of feedback as the emperor in question turned. Clearly the wrecked ship below him wasn't Meta Knight's.

He instantly lunged for a blow, prepared to erase the knight once and for all, without any sort of mind-play to throw a wrench in it.

"Kill me now and you will have lost!" shouted the knight, in a serious and rather terrifying tone.

Nightmare almost stopped himself, curious, but he knew that these were the mind-games he had so desperately wanted to avoid.

He plowed straight through the ship, twisting and leaving a massive hole in his wake. Wires screamed and metal twisted as the emperor of darkness charged. Meta Knight and Yamikage were thankfully not injured but the crash and damage echoed ominously a few rooms over. Not to mention, the entire ship had fallen sideways on the same rotational axis that Nightmare was attacking.

It was rare to see the emperor attack his own creations in any place other than his base, rare to see him with so many ships at his personal command and even rarer to have him come up and do the dirty work himself, without having a casualty yet to motivate him.

The ships were for intimidation, thought the knight as he scrambled to stand and speak. It was his only hope that the recorder had not been dislodged.

"I have a hostage and I think you would be most interested to know who it is."

Nightmare didn't wait, he lifted his fist and he prepared to bring it down on a section of the Babel.

"YAMIKAGE! He is now within my very grasp, submitted to my every command! If you destroy the ship now, dark one, he will die with it."

Nightmare cackled as his fist touched steel. "Oh really? You bluff, he is back at the base, and I can assure you he will remain loyal only to me."

"Does this prove my statement?" Meta Knight reached down and yanked Yamikage's ponytail upwards. He let out a surprised yelp and then a few choice words.

Nightmare grinned. "A recording is easy enough to produce, and how can you possibly hope to fool me?"

"Then, I shall show you, dark one." Meta Knight pulled a cord and a small video camera extended from the wall. The receiver recorder's monitor flared to life, but very weakly. Nightmare squatted to see it, but there it was. Yamikage was being held up by his ponytail, arms crossed like a pouting child. He spotted Kirby sleeping only a few feet away and something glass in the background, opening to the sky.

His prey was the center of attention.

It was easy enough to locate the glass section of the ship, and he raised his fist to strike it and hopefully crush the pair. They wouldn't be expecting that he knew their precise location from the camera and they wouldn't have time to dodge. His hand flew up as he grinned maliciously. But then a plan encroached his dark mind, with far more satisfactory results than the three deaths of the warriors.

"Yamikage, you fool, how did you get here?" Nightmare screeched, pretending that he believed the obvious illusion. Yamikage was neither one to pout like a child nor be captured by this knight.

Yamikage opened his mouth but Meta Knight wrenched it shut.

"It matters not. What matters is that your fist will destroy one of your own as well as me."

"And as well as Kirby, I see. Why is he asleep and in my view? Do you intend to taunt me with his mere presence?"

"Not at all, Nightmare. I believe a trade is in order."

"A trade? Yamikage is worthless to me, I can see that now." Nightmare laughed, certain of his own prowess.

"It is not for this pathetic Yamikage. It is for Kirby."

Nightmare smiled, raising his eyebrows. He had taken the bait. "Ahh… You would give up this child for your bid to escape, no? You would rather give me Kirby than suffer a blow by my hands?"

"Far from it. Here is my offer; I get Yamikage, you receive Kirby."

Nightmare could not understand this at all. Why was the knight bargaining for something he already owned, and also _giving up his biggest advantage_?"

"What are you doing, Meta Knight? I'm not worth that… puffy thing!" Yamikage tried to squirm but was restrained.

"Kirby is a Poyoan, not a puffy thing, and you _will _address him as such," Meta Knight gave him a slap to the face, leaving a red impression on the little amount of skin that was exposed. Yamikage rubbed at his cheek with a snarl.

"Meta Knight, I accept your bargain. Bring me the pink one." Nightmare didn't bother considering this deeply, if the knight was going to be a fool then he was going to take advantage of it.

"One moment… we seem to be missing something," Meta Knight said, looking behind him. Kirby was sound asleep.

"What are you talking about? The deal was made, I accepted."

"The deal is not sealed until we shake hands. That is how you have always operated. Besides, there is a problem concerning Kirby. He is locked in a dream, and he awakens sporadically to speak a language that is not his own."

"So you want me to fix Kirby, is that it?"

"No. I want you figure out and explain to me what is wrong with him. Curing it is another story and I do not trust you to do so."

"So I get Kirby, tell you what's wrong, spirit him away and you just get Yamikage and the knowledge of the disease?"

"In essence, yes. You also have to keep us all alive long enough to fulfill your deal."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Nightmare brought his fist down, shattering through the roof and spreading glass over the surrounding area. His hand was wedged in the dome's opening, preventing more movement, but he didn't notice. "LET'S SHAKE ON IT!"

Meta Knight looked at the hand before him, then to his own. There was no turning back now.

"…Bring us up to eye level, if you would, so that we can do this properly."

Meta Knight dragged Yamikage over and stood on Nightmare's waiting hand. He then dropped the ninja and walked to Kirby's pillow. The poor Poyoan was trembling in his sleep. Yamikage tried to leap up but suddenly the grey fist squeezed slightly, discouraging his escape.

"What are you thinking, Meta Knight? Do you have any idea what you've done?" Yamikage writhed in place in Nightmare's fist, until Meta Knight grabbed the top of his ponytail again. The fist unclenched.

"Yes. I do." The knight mounted as the hand was lifted a few feet. Glass shards that weren't previously dislodged before rained down.

Nightmare frowned, struggled for a minute, and then realized that _his hand was stuck_.

"Meta Knight! This was your plan all along, wasn't it?!" Nightmare yelled, a thick frown forming on his mouth.

"Far from it!" Meta Knight called in return. "You did this out of your own stupidity!"

Kirby shifted ever so slightly in his grip, sliding a little down the silky pillow. Meta Knight kept a closer grip on the child, but slackened a little, intentionally, with Yamikage's ponytail. He briefly looked Yamikage in the eyes with a barely discernible nod of the head.

Yamikage wasn't quite sure what he was being told. Escape? Get to his ship? Help? It all jumbled in his head. So, like the traitor he was, he escaped from the grip and ran up Nightmare's arm.

"Yamikage! ARRRGH! COME BACK!" Shouted Meta Knight as the ninja scrambled upward. Luckily, Nightmare's free hand was quick, and it snatched the dark shadow without so much as a struggle. Yamikage hung limply in the dark emperor's grip, refusing to disobey. Nightmare smiled again.

"See? We can truly fulfill our bargain now. I shall only give you Yamikage back in exchange for the pink one. But that was our original deal anyway, correct?"

"Correct."

Meta Knight realized that there were very few ways out of this situation. His plan was marvelous; his every move had gone swimmingly. But now that his wings did not work, this last step was the troublesome part. Originally, the plan was to agree marginally to the deal, and then escape as Nightmare was distracted. Along the way, a few key events had altered the plan, to the knight's advantage. One of them was the fact that Nightmare's hand was stuck.

He now hoped that Nightmare would not be able lift his hand, and that the minute the emperor grabbed Yamikage, Meta Knight would fly off to the Kabu fountain or the ninja's ship, if he could find it, leaving behind the ninja and the dark fleet without risking Kirby.

The knight tried, as inconspicuously as possible, to raise his wings as Nightmare struggled to lift up his hand without balling it back into a fist, squishing his prey. That would be no fun at all.

The emperor was actually a little curious to see what was wrong with Kirby. If something had possessed him and it wasn't dark matter, what else could? Could there be some kind of parasite that he could use to his advantage and thus capture Meta Knight again? It wasn't as though he really needed the knight, but Nightmare enjoyed the antics of the rebellious little Poyoan, and so far they were much more fun than Cascade's. Meta Knight had new tricks up his sleeve, this undoubtedly being one of them.

He began to try and pinpoint any sort of flaw, a moment where the knight would escape, but if that was the case he would have flown out of the roof right about now. It was a perfect time, he had an escape route right now and the emperor was occupied. But it seemed that the knight truly did want Yamikage, and more importantly, genuinely wanted to help Kirby. That was the only reason that Nightmare played along, the only possible explanation. This could actually all be true; maybe it wasn't a trick or a trap. But the emperor wasn't _that _gullible.

"So Meta Knight… I wonder… Why don't you just come fly up here to see me? It would make this much faster."

"I am not interested in doing the work for you. Surely you cannot be trapped by my meager ship, dark one?"

Nightmare frowned again. "Fine. Have it your way. I didn't want to have to crush you but I suppose I might as well."

Nightmare clenched his fist and raised it out of the ship. Now Meta Knight had just lost his advantage and he knew it. The stakes were high, the trap set, and the predator was gripping his prey.

Nightmare set down Meta Knight, who in turn was carrying Kirby, on the ship's exterior. It slanted down and to the right, and a few hundred feet in the distance Meta Knight could see… a black cruiser, just big enough for two. Meta Knight struggled to retrieve his breath, and then he let out a choked cough. The emperor's grip was much rougher than necessary.

"Alright, Meta Knight, shake my hand. Go on, you wanted it this way. Shake it."

The grey hand loomed before him, threatening to smash him away within seconds. The hand was covered in warts, but the skin was stretched tight to the bone. The bony fingers were long, pointed, and overall, they were disgusting. Meta Knight looked at Kirby, as though the sight of him would inspire some sort of escape. But there was no way out, for above him, destrayas lurked on all sides.

There was only one card left in Meta Knight's hand. Magolor, wherever he was, if he was alive. So naturally, he delayed.

"Before I seal my fate and you refuse to hold any conversation other than the one which our gesture would seal, what happened to the other fellow whose shipwreck you were shooting at?"

"Hmm?" Nightmare hummed, preoccupied with the smell of victory. "The blue and yellow thing?"

"I suppose that would be him, yes."

"Well, then I suppose this is exactly who you mentioned." The dark one looked up at the nearest destraya. One of them hovered closer, a glass tank lowering from the center of its hull. Magolor was bloodied up, bruised and battered, but clearly hanging on for dear life. Nightmare turned back to the knight. "What, you want this useless rat, too?" Nightmare frowned.

"No. I was curious. You see, he reminded me of some of your other creations. He is obviously a demon beast. Yet, if you say he is useless… why did you create him?"

Nightmare paled a little. All emotion drained away as even his looming hand lowered a fraction.

"I… didn't… create him…" he squeaked out in a feeble voice, as though he was a mouse cornered by a lion, begging for mercy which didn't exist. Nightmare had just admitted that he was not the only one who could create demon beasts, a fact which tormented his waking hours and just put Meta Knight on the number one spot on a list of his least favorite people.

Nightmare let loose a shriek and in the resulting confusion Meta Knight ran at the ship. Kabu valley was his backup destination but he had no time to consider the fact that it was in the opposite direction. Meta Knight vaulted at the ship, racing as fast as his legs could carry him as Kirby was tucked under his arm. The pillow was long forgotten, and then noticed as Nightmare's primeval scream died away.

Noticing that his prey was escaping, Nightmare turned to search frantically until he saw Yamikage's getaway cruiser.

"GET THEM!" he roared, racing towards the Poyoan in question, who had covered about half of the distance. The destrayas rushed to follow but many of them stopped mid-flight, except for Magolor's, which still lunged after them.

Nightmare went to fly but he, too, found that it was difficult. A wave of exhaustion, a feeling that was completely foreign to him, began to take over. Suddenly he wanted to merge with the clay and sand at his feet, tied to the ground as though gravity was his lover. He tried, he really did, but the force gripping him was insuperable. He could not catch up to the knight or his little pink package.

He went to roar but all that escaped from his mouth was a quaint yawn. Meta Knight heard it, but didn't dare turn around for fear of the destraya army. Several, white cannonballs hurtled toward the ground from the ship containing Magolor. The glass cage had not been raised and the wizard actively watched everything that was going on, particularly because he noticed another spaceship in front of him. Magolor pounded on the glass, begging to be released, but the ship's crew neither heard nor obliged.

"Meta Knight! Kirby! Star Warriors of legend! Are you trying to save me?" He barked, oblivious to the fact that the glass was soundproofed.

Meta Knight covered the final amount of distance as the destraya switched tactics, aiming for the ship in the hopes of destroying the knight's getaway. The hatch to the ship opened and the knight practically flew in, except for the fact that everything was grounded, aside from Magolor and the destraya.

Meta Knight threw Kirby quickly in a seat while he took the helm. Try as he could, the control panel did not respond and his feverish attempts to raise the vessel were in vain. The destraya scored several hits to the windshield, but blessedly it did not crack or break. Most of the other shots missed.

Meta Knight finally surveyed the S.S. Babel behind him, where mass armies were swarming from the destrayas and wrecking what was left of the ship. Even Nightmare was grounded, and surprisingly, he _had fallen asleep in the clay_.

Meta Knight had no reaction other than horror at the fact that everything, save Magolor's destraya, was grounded.

"Aha!" he cried, realizing something. If Magolor was in the ship, perhaps that protected it from whatever ghastly force was keeping them down. If only he could get close… perhaps even his wings would work. But Magolor was encased in glass and it was too high up to reach. He only had one shot, and he had to take it fast.

From experience, he knew that very few things could break open that glass. It was soundproof, fireproof, bullet-proof, and nearly impossible to cut with anything less than a laser. The only entrance and exit was within the ship, and the only way to get that high up was to fly. Meta Knight unsheathed Galaxia as cannonballs rained fire around him, some exploding and sending ash clouds up to his face. The tang of metal and sulfur stained the air, and he felt his eyes begin to water. He shut his eyelids.

The explosions kept the area well lit but still shrouded with fog. An early dawn was approaching on the southern skyline.

Meta Knight took his sword, which had fully manifested into itself, and he prepared to launch a sword beam at the destraya. He followed the smoky paths of the cannonballs until he figured out exactly where the center of the ship would be. Now he just had to figure out how to make sure Magolor didn't die in the process.

He leapt up the sides of the black ship until he was looking up. It had taken heavy damage already but it was their only hope. Yamikage was nowhere to be seen, so that left Meta Knight alone to concentrate.

The army of monsters was approaching fast and was almost right under the destraya. If Meta Knight cut the glass at just the right time, he could make sure Magolor had something soft and furry to land on. Hopefully it wouldn't have any spikes, either.

Normally the beasts with wings would be flying at him, but many of them struggled to do so. They eventually just gave up, but the action greatly slowed the army.

Meta Knight suddenly shut off his senses, seeing, smelling and feeling only solitude around him. For a few seconds, he was frozen like this. Then he heard the clang of canons and he was ready.

The sword beam flew up, causing it to pierce many of the oncoming canons and save his life. The beam weakened only a little as the resistance met it halfway between the ground and Magolor.

The wizard leapt as far to the side as he could, which wasn't far considering that he was still in the glass case. The sword connected with its right edge as he tried desperately to go left. A shattering noise was heard and glass rained from the case, exposing an opening wide enough for the wizard to wriggle through. He wasted no time slipping out the crack and fly towards the knight, both in ecstatic exhilaration and rage. How dare he throw his peashooter at the mighty Magolor?!

Cannonballs rained around him but he dodged them with ease.

Magolor's flying dive came to a sudden halt as he noticed the beasts congregating below him. Some of the lucky ones were raising their wings and taking flight. The wizard knew he had to act fast. He did a swirling dive to speed up his progress. He was able to reach the ground without much difficulty, landing near the knight's vessel with a thump.

The destraya fell with a clatter behind him, squashing many of the monsters that were swarming ever closer. Magolor leapt up and charged at the ship in front of him. Thankfully, Meta Knight held the door open.

Projectiles began pelting them, summoned by the army of beasts behind. Magolor flew as fast as he could, while scores of clubs, hammers, coconuts and other bizarre objects pelted the surrounding area.

A throwing knife lodged itself in his chest, where a shoulder joint would have connected, had the wizard possessed arms.

Magolor screamed but kept going, knowing that this ship was his only hope of escape now. He flew, straight into the knight, then off to the side, slumping to the ground.

Meta Knight shut the door loudly, then he dashed to the control panel and he raced to get it airborne. The engine was already running and all he had to do was get it up.

He pushed buttons, pulled levers, and the ship rose a few centimeters. It was not built for speed and it was taking a long time to accelerate.

One foot, three feet, five… The ship was finally ascending, as the first monster latched on to it. It was small, round, and it had a nasty looking snarl etched onto its face. The face made up the entire body and it was squirming wildly, the ship's runners clutched in its tiny teeth. Another leapt up from the ground, and another, but these two missed their targets.

Ten feet, twenty feet, thirty… more of the flying monsters leapt up. Most had launched their projectiles, and as such had free hands. A large, purple beetle began to catch up to the ship as more converged on the scene. There was no gap in the sea of monsters; every speck of available ground was covered for what seemed like miles. Many were leaping up to the ship, and unfortunately, several were closing the gap.

Fifty feet, one hundred feet, two hundred and- CRACK! A runner broke away, too many creatures weighing it down. The ship couldn't land with only one runner.

The beasts attached fell away, but the purple bug held on for dear life. It used its spiked club to gain purchase, sinking it into the ship to create a grip for itself. The other runner began creaking in protest as well, until it too snapped off. Now only the beetle, Bugzzy, remained on the ship.

* * *

"We cannot get more altitude! Something is weighing us down!" Meta Knight shouted at Magolor in response.

"We have to… grunt… make it! Come on Meta Knight! Can't you see I'm dying over here?"

"Go look for a first aid kit!"

"...How come Kirby gets to sleep?"

"GO LOOK FOR A FIRST AID KIT!" Meta Knight screamed, overloaded by stress. Magolor figured that this would be a bad time to argue, so he scrambled back, holding the cut on his body. Purple liquid poured from it. The knife lay on the ground a ways.

He found something attached to the wall, a white, plastic box with no markings. He opened it, figuring that it was filled with medical supplies.

It most definitely wasn't.


	8. A Scream and Some Smog

Meta Knight jerked the ship forwards and backwards, lunging left and right to dislodge the weight dragging it down. That "weight" was latched onto the ship tightly and it wasn't letting go. He tried moving forwards, backwards, side to side, but he couldn't go any farther up. The engine whined with protest; as it was carrying too much weight. It began sinking, to everyone's dismay.

Meta Knight didn't know what defenses the ship had and he couldn't leave it without a pilot for more than a few seconds.

"Magolor! Get up here! FORGET THE FIRST AID! I need another pilot!"

Magolor wasn't listening, though; instead he was preoccupied by a set of glass vials and kunai.

"GET THE HELL UP HERE, MAGOLOR! THERE IS NO TIME TO PLAY WITH YOUR CHEMISTRY SET!"

Magolor turned his face up from the real object of his obsession, a small blue and purple crystal embedded into the box. It glistened in the sunlight streaming through the glass cockpit.

"O-ok…" he said, buckling and tripping as he tried to stand. Float would be the more accurate term, however, as the wizard had no legs with which to stand. Somehow he managed to come over to the cockpit, though he winced in pain.

"Keep the wheel straight ahead! Only turn if you have to get away from something big! WARN ME ABOVE ALL ELSE!"

Meta Knight suddenly vaulted from his seat, _opening the door to the craft as he did so_.

"Good lord, man, what are you doing?"

"FIXING THE PROBLEM!" The knight screeched as he fought to be heard over the laborious whine of the engine and mangled cries of beasts below. The mob was swarming below them, waiting for its prey. No projectiles came their way, for some odd reason.

Meta Knight edged out on the side of the ship, where a thin step rail jutted out. Boos and echoes sounded from below.

Suddenly a large object slammed the back of his head, crashing into him with a clatter. Meta Knight tried to hang on but couldn't, as some sort of unseen object tried to impale him.

Cheers erupted as he began to fall from the craft.

On reflex, he spread his wings, praying to some unknown deity of the stars that he could open them and survive this.

The wings jetted open with a scream of pain. The knight howled, _dropping Galaxia in the process._ It made a whooshing noise through the air as the knight raced to correct his mistake.

Just barely he caught it, the hilt sticking fast to his outstretched arm. Unfortunately, he was a little farther from the ship, and he began losing altitude as his wings struggled against some unseen current.

He saw the source of his original injury, a beetle he recognized by the name of Bugzzy. It clicked its pincers and churned its small wings, prepared to strike down the knight in the hopes of some glory and recognition.

Meta Knight flapped as quickly as he could manage, flying upwards and delivering a sword's uppercut slice to one pincer. Bugzzy's left horn tumbled to the ground to a chorus of boos and screeches.

He danced around the beast, finally locating the metal club that was sunken into the ship.

Meta Knight raced in again for another blow that would sever the creature's arm, but this time it blocked. It used its other horn to guard itself, but that other horn paid the price. About half of it was sliced off in the attempt.

It screamed in pain, the horn emitting several sparks and crashing sounds.

* * *

"What's happening, Meta Knight?" Magolor shouted out the door. No response. He couldn't be heard over the sound of booing monsters.

"META KNIGHT, ARE YOU OK?!" he shouted out again as the booing died away. A perfectly silent moment followed.

Then a cheer erupted, louder than any before.

"Oh no… could he…?" Magolor looked at the controls. He didn't want to leave the ship unattended but he needed to know what was happening.

The cheer continued for a while before a terrible scream pierced his eardrums. This scream was much closer, deeper, and unlike anything else he had heard so far.

An explosion sounded and the ship lurched right. Smoke billowed in the doorway, choking the wizard and spoiling his eyesight. The cheering crowd didn't know whether to applaud or panic, so it did both, producing a horrible mixture of gleeful fear.

* * *

Meta Knight hacked away at the beetle, eliciting many booing noises and many rewards for his work. The beetle was cut in too many places to count and his only weapon was stuck to the wall of the ship.

Meta Knight prepared to deliver a final blow when suddenly, he dropped.

His wings buckled under some sort of unseen strain, just as his body began to waver in place.

_What a perfect time for another seizure._

The crowd began to shake too. His final moments became a daze as they shook in his sight. The creature attached to the ship fell off too, caught in his own fit of restlessness, and in the ensuing moment Meta Knight grabbed Galaxia's hilt and delivered a sword beam to its rapidly descending body.

The beam was very weak but it did the job, cutting through the beetle flesh like butter. It disintegrated after that, though, and then the seizure became too strong for Meta Knight to focus.

Bugzzy's body trembled and then, with the added force of the sword beam, he exploded into a cloud of black smoke. Meta Knight began to scream, for the first time, in terror, as the ship began to rock from the impact. What if Kirby fell out the open door?

But it was he who was was falling, falling, falling into a confused crowd. Every moment as he became farther and farther away from Magolor, his hopes receded. The monsters were going to surround him, beat him, stab him, kill him, eat him until nothing remained. He just knew it. He. Just. Knew. It.

Something stopped his fall though. He felt two strong hands grab his cape, nearly choking him but saving his life.

Magolor was latched on and he wasn't letting go.

"Come on, spread your wings again! Meta Knight, we have to get on the ship!"

Meta Knight shook himself out of his reverie and he spread the wings. So much for keeping them a secret. Magolor helped lift him until he was able to sustain himself.

The monsters were only a few hundred feet below. They leapt up and some of the luckier ones were flying to catch up. Magolor and Meta Knight went as quickly as they could, entering the ship and shutting the compartment.

Meta Knight ran to the bridge of the ship, grabbing the throttle's control stick and throwing the ship as far up as it could go.


End file.
